Glencore faces hefty fine over African bribery scandal

Glencore faces fines running into the hundreds of millions for a series of corruption crimes in which it flew cash on a private jet to bribe officials in several African states.

A subsidiary of commodities giant FTSE 100 pleaded guilty in June to paying multiple bribes to gain access to oil shipments.

It was the first-ever conviction of a company for bribery under UK law and came after a series of charges were filed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Glencore could be fined more than £243m, while the SFO is demanding a confiscation order of £93.4m – the highest imposed on a company in Britain – and £4.5m in costs.

The final amount will be determined today at the sentencing at Southwark Crown Court in London.

At a hearing yesterday, Glencore’s lawyer said the company “unconditionally regrets the damage caused”.

But prosecutor Alexandra Healy said that “offering bribes was an acceptable way of doing business for the company” and that “corruption was endemic within the company.”

The conviction comes after a long-running investigation revealed Glencore’s London-based oil trading desk paid bribes of more than £24 million for preferential access to shipments in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan.

Under a litany of offences, the investigation found that a Glencore agent in Nigeria took about £3.6 million from a slush fund and flew the money to Cameroon, often via private jet, to bribe officials.

Glencore’s agents, executives, and dealers were so mean they often referred to each other as “senorita” and “bro,” even when talking about bribes.

Another agent was paid £870,000 in 2011 to bribe officials in Equatorial Guinea to access oil cargo, with the company also authorizing £5,000 in ‘hotel costs’ for him on a trip to London.

Also that year, a Glencore director asked for nearly £700,000 at the company’s Swiss cash register, ostensibly for “opening an office in South Sudan” shortly after it gained independence.

Two executives then transported the money to the country on a private jet before passing it on to a local agent for bribes.

Later that year, a further £240,000 in cash was flown out to cover ‘operating costs for the new office’, although there was no evidence of a Glencore site there.

The withdrawal coincided with meetings between business leaders in London and Zurich and an aide to the president of South Sudan.

Other offenses included funneling money through Glencore through a separate entity to officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which partners with foreign companies to exploit oil wells, as well as paying bribes to people working for the national oil and gas industry. gas company of Cameroon and the State of Ivory Coast. backed energy group Petroci.

The convictions followed a three-year investigation by the SFO, which has partnered with authorities in the US and also cooperated with the Netherlands and Switzerland, where the company is facing ongoing investigations.

In May, the company agreed a £957 million settlement with the US Department of Justice and previously said it had set aside £1.3 billion for the scandal.

But the SFO left open the possibility that former Glencore employees could also face criminal charges.