Mining and commodities trader Glencore (LON: GLEN) probes into bribery and market manipulation in the UK and US, which have loomed over the company聽for years.
In February, Glencore announced it had set aside $1.5 billion cover the costs of settlements in the US, UK and Brazil, and the company in court in the US Tuesday in connection with 鈥減roposed resolutions鈥� to probes into its activities.
Later in the day, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO)聽charged Glencore with seven counts of bribery in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan. A London judge will sign off on separate penalties for Glencore at a sentencing hearing June 21.聽
In the US, to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, to resolve the bribery investigation and more than $485 million to settle market manipulation charges.
鈥淕lencore today is not the company it was when the unacceptable practices behind this misconduct occurred,鈥� chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi .
The firm has further agreed to pay more than $39.5 million under a resolution signed with the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor鈥檚 Office (MPF) in connection with its bribery investigation.
Over the past four years, Glencore has been under investigation by聽the US Department of Justice听(顿翱闯), 迟丑别听厂贵翱 and Brazilian authorities for alleged money laundering and corruption.聽
The Swiss company聽disclosed in 2018聽that the US DOJ had requested documents related to the group鈥檚 business in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Venezuela as part of a probe into possible corruption and money laundering.
Brazil also launched an investigation into Glencore and trading groups Vitol and Trafigura over alleged bribery of employees at state-run oil company Petrobras.
A year later, the UK鈥檚 SFO聽聽it was investigating suspicions of bribery by both the company and its staff.
Switzerland鈥檚 Attorney General聽followed suit, saying the probe was the result of a wide-ranging investigation by law enforcement agencies opened聽in early 2020.
Glencore, which is also subject to investigations from Swiss and Dutch authorities, has said the timing of those probes remains uncertain but would expect any possible resolution to avoid duplicate penalties for the same conduct.