$26m Glencore bribe: CSOs call for Nigerian investigation

Civil society organisations on Thursday called on anti-graft agencies to fish out and prosecute Nigerian suspects who benefitted from the $26m bribe that was given to some oil sector officials by Glencore, a United Kingdom subsidiary of mining and commodity trading group.

On Wednesday, the Southwark Crown Court in London was told by the Serious Fraud Office of the UK of how Glencore’s staff and middlemen gave kickbacks to the tune of $26m to officials in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.

The SFO added that employees of Glencore moved bribes to the five countries by way of private jets, using false documents to conceal the real purposes of the money.

On Thursday, Glencore was asked by the London court to pay £281m in fines as a sanction for its part in seven bribery offences pertaining to its oil business in Africa.

The court described the act by the company as “sustained criminality.” The Judge, Peter Fraser, said during a ruling that the oil firm would pay £182.9m as fine, while £93.5m from its profits would be held via a confiscation order.

He noted that the wrongdoings of the company’s UK unit indicated “corporate corruption on a widespread scale, deploying very substantial sums of money in bribes.”

Commenting on the development, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should deliver justice against the Nigerian perpetrators.

He said, “We are hoping that EFCC will move, not only to investigate, but to ensure that justice is delivered for the Nigerian people and communities against these people who have continued to sabotage our economy.

“Nigeria is going through challenges as a result of oil theft, sabotage and corruption, occasioned and orchestrated by some few officials, who have no decency or fear of God.”

In the same vein, Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, expressed disappointment in the current administration for allowing corruption to thrive.

He urged the EFCC to pursue the case to a definite conclusion.