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Britain’s Serious Fraud Office has charged Glencore’s former oil chief billionaire Alex Beard and four other former executives with conspiracy to make corrupt payments after a lengthy investigation into alleged bribery by the UK-listed commodities trader in Africa.
Beard, who ran Glencore’s oil division from 2007 until his retirement in 2019, became a billionaire when the company listed in London in 2011 and is the highest-profile commodities trader to be charged with corruption in Britain.
Beard was charged along with former colleagues Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga and Martin Wakefield in connection with oil contracts awarded to Glencore interests, the SFO said on Thursday. The defendants are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 10.
The fraud watchdog first opened an investigation into Glencore in 2019 over bribery allegations related to its London-based West Africa unit, which sources and trades crude across the continent. The SFO had initially planned to announce the charges last year but was forced to delay its decision after receiving further evidence.
Beard, 56, faces two counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments to government officials and officials of state-owned companies in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014 and Cameroon between 2007 and 2014, while Hopkirk, 50, and Labiaga, 55, each face one count of conspiracy to make corrupt payments to Nigerian officials between 2010 and 2014.
Gibson, 64, and Wakefield, 64, were charged with four and three counts respectively in connection with a conspiracy to make corrupt payments to officials in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast at various times between 2007 and 2014. The pair were also charged with one count of falsifying documents between 2007 and 2011.
Glencore was founded in 1974 by Marc Rich, widely regarded as the father of modern commodities trading, who fled to Switzerland when he faced US criminal charges in 1983 for dealing with Iran.
Headquartered in the Swiss town of Baar and listed in London, Glencore has grown into a commodities giant with mines and trading operations around the world. The company has long faced scrutiny over some of its operations.
The charges against the former executives are the latest in a series of cases brought by European and US prosecutors against commodities trading companies or their executives.
Mike Wainwright, chief executive of rival firm Trafigura, was charged by Swiss investigators in December with arranging bribes in Angola between 2009 and 2010. Trafigura said Wainwright denied the allegations against him.
A former oil trader at Vitol was convicted in a US court in February of organizing more than $1 million in bribes in Ecuador and Mexico between 2015 and 2020.
The SFO had to seek permission from the attorney general of England and Wales to bring charges due to the laws the SFO uses to prosecute individuals. The UK general election meant that decision was passed from former attorney general Victoria Prentis to Richard Hermer was appointed last month..
The SFO initially looked into 11 former Glencore executives over the conduct. The names of the suspects have so far been protected by a court reporting order.
“Bribery damages financial markets and causes lasting harm to communities,” Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO, said in a statement. “Today’s action is an important step towards exposing corruption overseas and holding those responsible to account.”
