The Region - News from Sept. 29, 1985

Fluor Inc., the giant Orange County-based engineering and construction company, has sued a former employee for $40 million in Los Angeles federal court, alleging that he accepted nearly $3 million in bribes and kickbacks on a $2-billion petrochemical project the firm was building in Saudi Arabia. The company contends that the illegal payments from subcontractors were solicited by Thomas A. Belt, who worked as a principal engineer for three years on the project in the Saudi city of Jubail. The suit also alleges that Belt, who was fired in 1983, used the funds to buy property near Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., where he now lives.