Glencore pleads guilty to bribery related to African oil operations
The commodity trader Glencore has pleaded guilty in a London court to seven counts of bribery related to its oil operations in several African countries.
The Serious Fraud Office, which had brought charges against the FTSE 100-listed company after conducting an investigation, said the sentencing hearing would take place on 2 and 3 November.
Last month, Glencore Energy UK said it would pay a $1.1bn US settlement, and indicated that it would plead guilty in the UK. The SFO had formally charged the company at the Westminster magistrates court in London with bribery offences for preferential access to oil between 2011 and 2016. The case was subsequently sent to the higher Southwark crown court for Tuesday’s plea hearing.
The SFO said on Tuesday: “Glencore Energy (UK) Ltd has today been convicted on all charges of bribery brought against it by the Serious Fraud Office. At Southwark crown court, the company admitted to multiple counts of paying bribes to secure access to oil and generate illicit profit.
“The SFO’s investigation exposed that Glencore, via its employees and agents, paid bribes of over $28m for preferential access to oil, including increased cargoes, valuable grades of oil and preferable dates of delivery. These actions were approved by the company across its oil operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan.”
US and UK authorities started investigations into alleged bribery and corruption at Glencore’s oil operations in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In February, Glencore said it had set aside $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to cover potential fines and costs related to the investigations in the UK, US and Brazil. While significant, that amount was far below the $4bn that Glencore said would be
Read more on theguardian.com
