UK (Commonwealth) _ Glencore’s ex-head of oil trading has been accused by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office of plotting to make bribes to support the commodities company’s oil activities in West Africa.
Following a protracted investigation into claims of bribery within the business, Alex Beard, who oversaw Glencore’s oil sector from 2007 until his retirement in 2019, will be charged alongside former Glencore executives Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, and Martin Wakefield.
Following the SFO’s extensive investigation into Glencore, which started in 2019 under the codename Operation Azoth, Beard—who became a millionaire when Glencore listed in London in 2011—is the most well-known person to have been prosecuted.
According to the SFO, the executives are accused of having awarded oil contracts to Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2014. On September 10, they are scheduled to appear before Westminster magistrate’s court. However, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Thursday that Beard will face charges for allegedly making dishonest payments “to benefit Glencore’s oil operations in West Africa.”
Similar charges were brought against former coworkers Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, Andrew Gibson, and Martin Wakefield; the last two were also accused of forging papers. On September 10, the five men are required to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court. Right now, everyone is free to travel after being granted bail.
The 56-year-old Beard is accused of two counts of conspiring to bribe officials of state oil companies and the government of Nigeria between 2010 and 2014, as well as Cameroon between 2007 and 2014.
In the meantime, Hopkirk, fifty, and Labiaga, fifty-five, are each facing one allegation of the same concerning officials in Nigeria from 2010 to 2014. Wakefield, 64, is accused of paying authorities in Nigeria between 2007 and 2010, Cameroon between 2007 and 2014, and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2010 in three separate instances.
Additionally, Gibson, 64, is accused of making four similar payments to authorities in the Ivory Coast from 2007 to 2010 as well as Nigeria and Cameroon between 2007 and 2014. Wakefield and Gibson are each charged with one additional count of conspiring to fabricate documents between 2007 and 2011.
According to SFO director Nick Ephgrave, bribery hurts communities’ long-term and financial markets. The move taken today is a significant step in the direction of exposing international wrongdoing and prosecuting individuals accountable.
Glencore said that it had paid bribes to obtain business in eight countries, including Brazil and South Sudan, and entered a guilty plea to corruption and market manipulation proceedings in the US and UK in 2022.
The business set aside up to $1.5 billion to resolve two US investigations into it. In the first instance, Glencore admitted to utilizing an eight-year conspiracy to influence US fuel oil price benchmarks; in the second, prosecutors described the case as a bribery operation spanning ten years.
Additionally, BP was sentenced to pay over £280 million in the UK following an SFO investigation that found it had spent $29 million in bribes to obtain privileged access to oil in Africa—a wrongdoing that a crown court judge referred to as “highly corrosive” and “endemic.”
Beard is going to be charged twice with conspiring to bribe corrupt officials and representatives of state-owned oil corporations in Nigeria and Cameroon between 2007 and 2014 in exchange for favors. In July, he announced his resignation as chair of Adaptogen Capital, the investment firm he founded after departing Glencore to make investments in massive batteries linked to the UK grid. Four counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments to government officials and officers of state-owned oil firms in Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2010 will be brought against Gibson, his second-in-command at Glencore. Additionally, Gibson is accused of conspiring between 2007 and 2011 to fabricate documents.
Along with being involved in the trading of oil from West Africa, Hopkirk, Labiaga, and Wakefield are also accused of plotting to pay corrupt officials and staff members at state-owned oil businesses in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon.
“Co-operated with the SFO in its investigation into this past conduct and resolved its SFO investigation in 2022,” a Glencore spokeswoman said of the allegations.
The representative stated that Glencore is dedicated to conducting business in an ethical and responsible manner in all aspects and that major steps have been taken to create a best-in-class ethics and compliance program. This (alleged) conduct has no place in Glencore.
