Glencore bribery scandal

The head of Cameroon’s National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) announced that some of its managers and employees will appear before a UK court due to their suspected involvement in bribery linked to Swiss commodity trader Glencore GLEN.L. Adolphe Moudiki, SNH’s administrator and director general, initially denied staff involvement but issued a statement late on Friday acknowledging that some employees have been identified as suspects and will appear before a British court on Sept. 10. In June 2022, Glencore’s UK subsidiary pleaded guilty to seven counts of bribery in a London court, involving oil operations in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and South Sudan. On Thursday, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged Glencore’s former head of oil, Alex Beard, with two conspiracies to make corrupt payments to government officials and employees of state-owned oil companies in Nigeria and Cameroon. “SNH welcomes the progress of proceedings against the perpetrators and accomplices of the acts of corruption that have tarnished its image,” Moudiki stated, without specifying the number of SNH staff involved. Glencore’s UK subsidiary admitted to paying bribes amounting to 7 billion CFA francs ($11 million) to SNH officials and others to secure preferential access to oil between 2011 and 2016. Cameroonian lawyer and anti-corruption specialist Akere Muna urged SNH to disclose the identities of those involved and to suspend dealings with Glencore. “The culprits are within Cameroon, the transactions that gave rise to the corruption took place in Cameroon, yet they expect us to believe the solution will come from London,” Muna said. In July 2022, Cameroon’s state anti-corruption commission announced an investigation into the bribery offences but has not provided further details since then. SNH is responsible for selling the share of national crude oil production accruing to the state on the international market.