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Glencore fined £281million after pleading guilty to string of bribery offenses in Africa
- A Southwark Crown Court judge fined the commodities giant around £183 million – less £274 million – plus a confiscation order of £93.5 million
- Glencore will also pay £4.6m to cover the costs of the Serious Fraud Office
- The fine is the largest ever imposed on a company in a UK court
Glencore was fined £281 million yesterday after pleading guilty to a series of bribery offenses in several African states.
A Southwark Crown Court judge handed the commodities giant a fine of around £183m – reduced from £274m after it admitted its guilt – plus a £93.5m confiscation order to take back the proceeds of the corruption.
Glencore will also pay £4.6 million to cover the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation costs. The million-pound fine is the largest ever imposed on a company by a British court.
Glencore was fined £281million yesterday after pleading guilty to a string of bribery offenses in several African states
The SFO filed suit against Glencore after a long-running investigation found that the 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.
At a sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Fraser said the facts of the case “demonstrated not only significant crime but sophisticated devices to disguise it.”
He added that the corruption was “endemic” among Glencore’s traders at the agency. Lisa Osofsky, director of the SFO, said the verdict was “a milestone” for the UK as it marked the first time a company had been convicted of allowing bribery under UK law.
A Glencore subsidiary pleaded guilty in June to the charges, including incidents where cash was flown in on a private jet to bribe officials.
A month earlier, Glencore reached a £957 million settlement with the US Department of Justice over the scandal. Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said: ‘The behavior that took place was unforgivable and has no place in Glencore.’
He added that Glencore is “committed to operating transparently under a well-defined set of values, with openness and integrity at the forefront” and that it has “taken significant action to implement a world-class ethics and compliance program.”