A lawyer who exposed multiple cases of bribery and corruption at SBM Offshore’s Monaco operation has been held by Croatian authorities on a Monaco warrant for his arrest, a number of news sources have reported.

Jonathan Taylor had arrived with his wife and three teenage children in Dubrovnik last Thursday at the start of a one-week holiday, when he was taken aside, questioned for several hours and placed in a cell.

On Friday a judge in Dubrovnik ruled that the 51 year-old be held for 30 days awaiting extradition hearings. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Mr Taylor was told that he was being held on on alleged “bribery and corruption” charges by Monaco prosecutors pending the extradition proceedings.

In a message to the UK newspaper, Mr Taylor said: “I reach out to the British Government to stop this political pursuit of the whistleblower who exposed corruption at SBM, Monaco’s biggest private sector employer.”

Taylor’s corruption and cover-up allegations resulted in a four-year ban on Brazilian tenders to SBM, which claimed the company had been brought to its knees” by the revelations, as it claimed in an unsuccessful defamation case against Taylor. After making a claim against SBM amounting to a seven-figure sum for constructive dismissal, the company complained of attempted extortion. SBM subsequently reported Taylor to the authorities in Monaco.

Mrs Taylor said her husband had been warned by the Serious Fraud Office, which he had advised on bribery allegations in Iraq, not to travel to Monaco and had been corresponding with them to arrange a meeting on neutral territory. The Monaco warrant had been issued in March.

A spokesman for SBM Offshore told Monaco Daily News that the company had dropped any proceedings against Mr Taylor several years ago, and was surprised at the news of his arrest.

The Judicial Services of Monaco could not be reached for comment on Monday afternoon.

PHOTO: Mr Taylor with his wife, Cindy