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The UK Serious Fraud Office intends to charge two more people in relation to its long-running investigation into allegations of bribery by Glencore’s oil trading division in Africa.
The sprawling probe into the past activities of the company’s London-based West Africa desk is the highest-profile prosecution of commodities trading executives ever undertaken by the UK fraud agency.
Last week, it charged Glencore’s billionaire ex-head of oil Alex Beard and four other former Glencore executives with conspiring to make corrupt payments in countries including Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
The SFO on Friday said it was preparing to indict two further individuals, who have been asked to attend court on September 10 to answer written charges.
The two individuals are understood to be “currently outside the jurisdiction”, the SFO said in court filings, meaning they reside outside of the UK and cannot be charged unless they voluntarily appear in court.
The SFO declined to comment or to confirm whether the individuals were former Glencore executives or others involved in the alleged bribery. Glencore declined to comment.
The fraud agency first opened an investigation into the company in 2019 and was originally investigating at as many as 11 former Glencore executives over the conduct. The names of suspects referred to in paperwork provided to the Crown Court have been protected to date by a reporting restriction from the court.
It was initially planning to announce charges last year but delayed the decision after it received more evidence.
The charges against the five former executives announced last week related to alleged corrupt payments to government officials between 2007 and 2014.
Beard, 56, who faces charges of conspiring to make corrupt payments to officials in Nigeria and Cameroon, ran Glencore’s oil division between 2007 and his retirement in 2019.
He became a billionaire when the company listed in London in 2011 and is the highest-profile commodities trader to be charged with corruption in the UK.
The charges are the latest in a series of cases brought by European and US prosecutors against commodities trading companies or their executives.
Glencore was founded in 1974 by Marc Rich, widely viewed as the godfather of the modern commodities trading industry, who fled to Switzerland when faced with US criminal charges in 1983 for trading with Iran.
The company was run by past chief executive Ivan Glasenberg, who remains its biggest shareholder, from 2002 to 2021.
Based in the Swiss town of Baar and listed in London, Glencore has evolved into a commodities giant with mines and trading operations around the world. It has long faced scrutiny over some of its activities.
Glencore in 2022 pleaded guilty to corruption charges in the UK and US and paid penalties totalling more than $1bn over bribes in countries including Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.