The headquarters of commodity trading company Glencore in Baar, central Switzerland. AFP
The headquarters of commodity trading company Glencore in Baar, central Switzerland. AFP
The headquarters of commodity trading company Glencore in Baar, central Switzerland. AFP
The headquarters of commodity trading company Glencore in Baar, central Switzerland. AFP

Mining company Glencore hit with multimillion-pound fines and confiscation order


Soraya Ebrahimi
  • English
  • Arabic

A London court has imposed a multimillion-pound confiscation order and fines on mining company Glencore in a major corporate conviction.

A part of the huge commodities business, Glencore Energy UK Limited admitted to five counts of bribery and two counts of failure to prevent bribery earlier this year.

Glencore was given a confiscation order of £93,479,338.95 ($104 million) on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court.

It was also fined a total of £182,935,392 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £4,550,362.

“The facts demonstrate not only sustained criminality but sophisticated devices to disguise it, including drawing significant cash sums for other stated purposes that would be legitimate, such as the expenses of opening a new office, which were in reality used for corrupt purposes,” the judge said when passing sentence at the end of a two-day hearing.

“The bribery was across borders and in different jurisdictions.”

The judge said the company “played a leading role in organised and planned unlawful activity”, using agents and corrupting local officials in what was “an abuse of the defendant’s dominant market position”.

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For some of the charges, he added, there were not “isolated acts of bribery that occurred on single occasions” but rather “the same techniques were used month after month, for the whole period covered by the relevant count in the indictment”.

“Bribery was clearly part of the culture for a number of personnel on the West Africa desk,” the judge added.

“These counts represent sophisticated offending that was sustained over prolonged periods of time that are measured in years.”

Confiscation is when a convicted party is ordered to pay back criminally obtained assets.

This is the first time a UK corporation has been convicted of authorising bribery from the top, rather than simply turning a blind eye to it at other levels.

The £93m fine is the largest amount that will have ever been recovered through confiscation in the UK, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) reported.

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The organisation said it is also a major corporate conviction and the first corporate prosecution under Section 1 of the Bribery Act 2010.

The SFO said it carried out a “large, highly complex” case reviewing more than one million documents and conducting interviews under caution.

Prosecutors said money to be used as bribes had often been flown by private jet.

The court heard that Glencore’s anti-bribery and corruption policies and procedures had been “largely ignored because corruption was condoned at a very senior level within the company generally”.

Prosecutor Alexandra Healy KC told the court this week that Glencore had pleaded guilty to “paying bribes through its agents and employees to officials in several jurisdictions for commercial advantages, namely securing crude oil cargoes at specific grades and on preferred dates”.

Payments were made in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast “through intermediaries, agents and employees intending a portion to be paid as bribes to those concerned in allocating crude oil, primarily officials in state-owned oil companies”.

In Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan, Glencore made payments to its agents and “failed to prevent them from using a portion of those funds to pay bribes to officials in order to secure valuable oil contracts”.

The judge said Glencore has 30 days to make all of the payments ordered.

Describing the total costs as “significant”, the judge said that “other companies tempted to engage in similar corruption should be aware that similar sanctions lie ahead”.

“The SFO has today brought justice to bear and exposed what was a deliberate and endemic culture of bribery at Glencore,” said SFO director Lisa Osofsky.

“For years and across the globe, Glencore pursued profits to the detriment of national governments in some of the poorest countries in the world. The company’s ruthless greed and criminality have been rightfully exposed.”

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The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

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  • Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
  • Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
  • Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
  • Submit their request
What are the regulations?
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Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.

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1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences

2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation

3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it

4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow

5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided

6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before

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Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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RESULTS

6.30pm UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

Winner Final Song, Christophe Soumillon (jockey), Saeed bin Suroor (trainer).

7.05pm Handicap (TB) $135,000 (Turf) 1,000m

Winner Almanaara, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.

7.40pm Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m

Winner Grand Argentier, Brett Doyle, Doug Watson.

8.15pm Meydan Challenge Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m

Winner Major Partnership, Patrick Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.

8.50pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner Gladiator King, Mickael Barzalona, Satish Seemar.

9.25pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m

Winner Universal Order, Richard Mullen, David Simcock.

About Krews

Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Founded: January 2019

Number of employees: 10

Sector: Technology/Social media 

Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support

 

Yahya Al Ghassani's bio

Date of birth: April 18, 1998

Playing position: Winger

Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda

MATCH INFO

Chelsea 3 (Abraham 11', 17', 74')

Luton Town 1 (Clark 30')

Man of the match Abraham (Chelsea)

Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

Updated: November 03, 2022, 10:58 PM`