Glencore agrees $180m settlement with DR Congo over bribery allegations

Glencore has agreed to pay $180million to the Democratic Republic of Congo to settle all alleged corruption claims in the country over an 11-year period.

It has already accepted fines totalling £1.2billion this year in relation to bribery offences across multiple states in Africa and South America, and the manipulation of fuel oil prices in the US.

The Swiss-based mining giant said the latest deal covers all activities that have been the subject of probes by the DRC’s National Financial Intelligence Unit and Ministry of Justice, and the United States Department of Justice.

Settlements: Glencore has already agreed to pay fines totalling £1.2billion this year in relation to bribery offences and the manipulation of fuel oil prices

Back in the summer, the commodities trader was fined £900million by the US DoJ after being caught bribing officials in seven countries and manipulating fuel prices at two commercial shipping ports.

An investigation by the department found Glencore handed around $27.5million to third parties in the DRC, with a share intended to be used as bribes to officials ‘in order to secure improper business advantages’.

Glencore’s assets in the Central African territory include the Mutanda and Katanga mining operations, both of which produce copper and cobalt.

Cobalt is a common element used for batteries in electronic devices like mobile phones and laptops, while copper is considered a vital ‘energy transition’ metal, given its prominence in technologies like wind turbines and solar panels.

Kalidas Madhavpeddi, the company’s chairman, said: ‘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.

‘Glencore has actively promoted its Ethics and Compliance Programme in the DRC in recent years and looks forward to continuing to work with the DRC authorities and other stakeholders to facilitate good governance and ethical business practices in the country.’

Today’s fine follows a judgement at Southwark Crown Court last month which ordered the FTSE 100 group to pay £281million – the largest ever penalty imposed on a business by a UK court – following a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) probe.

That inquiry found Glencore’s London-based oil trading desk had given over £24million in bribes to get preferential access to shipments in Cameroon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast and South Sudan.

Some payments were found to have been transported in cash via private jet, while others were disguised as a ‘service fee’ or ‘signing bonus’ in financial reports.

These scandals have overshadowed record-breaking results by the London-listed multinational, whose adjusted earnings hit $18.9billion for the first half of this financial year thanks to surging commodity prices.

Rising thermal coal prices provided a particularly significant boost to the group’s performance due to shortages created by Covid-related lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Glencore shares were up 2.1 per cent to 569.8p during the mid-morning on Monday, meaning their value has climbed by more than half in the past 12 months.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk