Glencore has appeared in court in the United States and the United Kingdom

Glencore is being investigated for corruption in London: The British Criminal Investigation Agency (SFO) has filed charges against the mining company in seven bribery cases in connection with its oil deals in five African countries.

The SFO announced this in a statement after a hearing in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. At trial, Glencore pleaded guilty to all charges, the SFO wrote. The trial is set to begin on Tuesday, June 21 in Southwark Crown Court.

The SFO began its investigation in June 2019. In it, investigators found bribery and corruption in the company’s oil operations for profit in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan. “The SFO understands that Glencore officials and employees have paid $ 25 million in bribes for priority access to oil with the company’s approval.”

The federal prosecutor’s office was also involved

In its investigation, the SFO collaborated with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (BA) in Bern and the Dutch Attorney General’s Office. The BA said in June 2020 that it had initiated criminal proceedings in early May 2019 on suspicion of bribing foreign government officials during and after the investigation and investigation of a criminal complaint received in December 2017. An “unknown culprit”.

In June 2020, the Federal Attorney’s Office opened a second criminal case “in this context.” It was directed against Glencore International because the BA at the time said it was “suspicious of the company’s criminal liability”.

More practices in the United States

At the same time, there is a process in the United States. In the summer of 2018, the U.S. subsidiary of the mining company was sabotaged by the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was asked to produce the documents and other documents. The U.S. Justice Department wants to know if anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws are being followed.

However, Glencore said at the time that documents related to the group’s activities in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Venezuela had been requested since 2007.

In addition, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) began operations in the United States in the spring of 2019. The Commodities Regulator is also investigating whether Glencore violated any rules or regulations through corrupt practices. It is hoped that these will address the same issues that are already at the center of the U.S. judicial inquiry.

1.5 billion allocation

Glencore announced in February 2022 that it expects trials in the United States, Great Britain and Brazil to end this year. The group has pledged $ 1.5 billion by the end of 2021. Glencore did not elaborate on what the investigation was.

(AWP)