Five former Glencore oil traders have been charged in the UK in connection with a West African bribery case.
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said Alex Beard, Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga and Martin Wakefield have been charged with conspiring to make corrupt payments to benefit the commodities giant’s oil operations in West Africa.
Beard ran Glencore’s oil division from 2007 until he retired in 2019.
He became a billionaire when the group was listed in London in 2011. According to Forbes, he is worth $2.3bn.
Last week, it was reported that Beard left the board of his investment firm, Adaptogen Capital.
The SFO said the traders had been charged “in connection with the awarding of a range of oil contracts variously spanning Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast from 2007 to 2014”.
Gibson was Beard’s deputy.
He and Wakefield have also been charged in relation to the falsification of invoices to Glencore’s London office marked as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy from 2007 to 2011.
A hearing has been scheduled for 10 September at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO, said: “Bribery damages financial markets and causes lasting harm to communities.”
“Today’s action is an important step towards exposing overseas corruption and holding those who are responsible to account,” he added.
‘Has no place’
Glencore told TradeWinds it noted the charges.
“Glencore cooperated with the SFO in its investigation into this past conduct and resolved its SFO investigation in 2022,” it added.
“We are committed to acting ethically and responsibly across all aspects of our business and have taken significant action towards building a best-in-class ethics and compliance programme,” Glencore said.
In June, the Financial Times reported that charges were imminent in the bribery scandal that led to Glencore being convicted in 2022.
The vessel charterer was fined about £280m ($355m) after pleading guilty to using cash to gain preferential access to African oil.
Glencore admitted seven counts of bribery.
It was accused of spending $29m in conduct described as “endemic” by trial judge Mr Justice Fraser.
The case focused on the London-based West Africa desk, which dealt in crude.
The SFO had said last year that it had delayed a decision on charges involving up to 11 people until July this year.
TradeWinds has previously reported that cash was taken by private jets by employees and agents to pay off African officials in five countries to secure access to oil, better grades of oil and preferable tanker loading dates.
The bribes at the centre of the UK case included sums paid by a Glencore oil trader to officials in Cameroon’s national oil and gas company and national refinery.
A Glencore executive and a colleague also flew by private jet with cash to Juba, South Sudan, where it was handed to a local agent to pay off government officials who could influence the allocation of crude oil cargoes.
Glencore trader Anthony Stimler had given witness statements to the SFO as part of the case.
He pleaded guilty to corruption and money laundering offences in the US in relation to his role in the case.
