Mining giant to pay US$180m to cover corruption claims
Glencore has agreed to pay $180m to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to cover corruption allegations, the latest payment in a series of graft cases it has faced worldwide.
The Anglo-Swiss mining company said on Monday that the settlement with DRC covers “all present and future claims arising from any alleged acts of corruption” by the Glencore Group between 2007 and 2018.
It comes months after Glencore announced deals with authorities in the United States, Britain and Brazil to pay a total of $1.5bn to resolve all accusations of corruption and market manipulation.
The US Justice Department said in May that Glencore paid more than $100m to intermediaries over 10 years, “intending that a significant portion of these payments would be used to pay bribes to officials” in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Venezuela and Congo.
In DRC, Glencore acknowledged that it paid $27.5m to third parties with the goal that a portion be used to bribe Congolese officials to secure improper business advantages, according to the Justice Department.
“Glencore is a long-standing investor in the DRC and is pleased to have reached this Agreement to address the consequences of its past conduct,” Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said in a statement on Monday.
The company “looks forward to continuing to work with the DRC authorities and other stakeholders to facilitate good governance and ethical business practices in the country,” he added.
Last month, a British court ordered Glencore to pay more than 280 million pounds ($341m) for using bribes to bolster its oil profits in five African countries.
It pleaded guilty in June after an investigation launched by the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office in 2019 found it paid bribes worth a combined $29m to gain access to oil in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan.