Six former Glencore employees in court for alleged bribery, SFO says

Six former employees of the mining giant Glencore have appeared in court charged with bribery offences, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said.

They are charged with conspiring to make corrupt payments to benefit their company’s oil operations in West Africa, the specialist prosecuting authority for serious fraud, bribery and corruption said.

Alex Beard, Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, Martin Wakefield and David Perez appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

The corruption charges relate to various oil contracts allegedly awarded in Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2014, according to the SFO.

It is the first time that the SFO has announced charges against Perez for conspiring to make corrupt payments in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.

Perez has also been charged in relation to allegedly falsified invoices to Glencore’s London office that were marked as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy, the SFO added.

The other five defendants were charged by the SFO on August 1 this year.

The SFO listed the charges and said Beard, 57, is facing two counts of conspiring to make corrupt payments to government officials and officials of state-owned oil companies in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014, and Cameroon between 2007 and 2014.

Gibson, 64, faces four counts of the same charge relating to state-owned oil companies in Nigeria and Cameroon between 2007 and 2014 and Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2010, it added.

The SFO added that Hopkirk, 50, and Labiaga, 55, are both charged with conspiring to make corrupt payments to government officials and officials of a state-owned oil company in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014.

Wakefield, 64, faces three charges of conspiring to make corrupt payments to government officials and officials of state-owned oil companies in Nigeria between 2007 and 2010, Cameroon between 2007 and 2014 and Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2010.

Perez, 53, is charged with two counts of conspiring to make corrupt payments to government officials and officials of state-owned oil companies in Cameroon between 2007 and 2014, and Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2010.

Gibson, Wakefield, and Perez are also charged with one count of conspiring to falsify documents between 2007 and 2011.

All six were granted unconditional bail and will next appear at Southwark Crown Court on October 8, according to the SFO.

Director of the SFO, Nick Ephgrave, said: “We are committed to exposing corruption and holding those who are responsible to account.

“Bribery damages financial markets and causes lasting harm to communities.