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Glencore ordered to pay $315 million penalty for bribery
By Patrick Hilsman
Pro-union demonstrators protest against Glencore in May 2018. Glencore on Thursday was ordered by
Britain to pay $315 million in penalties for a bribery scheme. File Photo by Alexandra Wey/EPA-EFE
Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Glencore Energy U.K. Ltd. has been ordered to pay approximately $315 million in fines after an investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud Office determined the company paid $29 million in bribes to gain access to oil in Africa.
How else would you gain access to oil, or anything else, in Africa?
Justice Fraser of the Southwark Crown Court said Glencore had created a corporate culture "in which bribery was accepted as part of the West Africa desk's way of doing business."
As much as I hate corruption, I seriously doubt that Glencore 'created the corporate culture' of bribery. I suspect it predated Glencore by centuries.
"This is a significant overall total. Other companies tempted to engage in similar corruption should be aware that similar sanctions lie ahead," Fraser said of the penalty.
After launching its investigation of Glencore in 2019 the SFO uncovered a series of text messages and concealed payments implicating the London-based West Africa Desk in bribery schemes.
The investigation discovered that Glencore was using local contacts to funnel bribes, disguised as service fees and signing bonuses, to state-affiliated oil companies and ministries in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast.
In 2015 two Glencore officials flew to South Sudan via private jet carrying $800,000 in cash bribes which had been withdrawn from the company's Swiss office under the pretext of being used to establish an office in the newly independent country.
"This has been a landmark case in U.K. anti-bribery enforcement, marking the first time since the introduction of the Bribery Act 2010 that a corporate has been convicted for the active authorization of bribery rather than purely a failure to prevent it," said Serious Fraud Office Director Lisa Osofsky.
"For years, and across the globe, Glencore pursued profits to the detriment of national governments in some of the poorest countries in the world. The company's ruthless greed and criminality have been rightfully exposed," Osofsky added.
If you think for a minute that colonial Britain and 19th century USA didn't employ similar methods and attitudes to rip off 3rd world peoples of their natural resources, you need your eyes opened.
Glencore has also been charged with bribery and market manipulation in the United States. A subsidiary has been ordered to pay $485.6 million to resolve market manipulation investigations.
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Canada sanctions two Haitian politicians suspected of enabling
'illegal activities'
Canada has announced sanctions against the President of Haiti's Senate Joseph Lambert, left,
and former senate president Youri Latortue, right. (Dieu Nalio Chery/The Associated Press)
Armed gangs have been blockading Haiti's main port since September
Darren Major ·
CBC News ·
Posted: Nov 04, 2022 2:49 PM ET |
The federal government has announced sanctions against two high-ranking Haitian politicians as the country grapples with multiple crises, including widespread civil unrest, food and fuel shortages and a resurgence of cholera.
On Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada would sanction the President of Haiti's Senate Joseph Lambert and former senate president Youri Latortue.
"Canada has reason to believe these individuals are using their status as previous or current public office holders to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption," a statement from Global Affairs Canada said.
The sanctions will freeze any asset holdings the two have in Canada, the statement said.
Do they actually have any asset holdings in Canada?
Canada already has backed a UN-led effort to sanction Haitian gang leaders — including former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, also known as "Barbecue," one of Haiti's most infamous gang leaders.
Protesters walk past burning tires during a protest to reject an international military force requested by the government,
and to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.
(Odelyn Joseph/Associated Press)
Armed gangs have been blockading Haiti's main port since September following a move by Ariel Henry, Haiti's unelected prime minister, to cut fuel subsidies.
Gang violence has killed hundreds of civilians.
The country has been effectively leaderless for more than 15 months after the last president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated.
After overpowering an understaffed and under-resourced police department, the gangs have gone so far as to request seats in the governing cabinet, demanding that Henry's government grant amnesty and void arrest warrants against their members.
"Canada will not remain idle while gangs and those who support them terrorize Haiti's citizens," Joly said in Friday's statement.
Haiti's current leaders have called for foreign support to restore a semblance of stability to the chaotic country, and Henry has said he wants a "specialized armed force" to assist Haitian police in countering anti-government gangs.
Earlier this month, Canada delivered armoured and tactical vehicles to Port-au-Prince in an effort to support Haitian police locked in a conflict with armed gangs.
Last week, Joly met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ottawa. Both committed to doing more for the embattled island nation.
Beyond sanctions, it's not clear what the two countries have planned — but it could include some sort of intervention by police and military personnel.
The U.S. and its allies are assembling a coalition of willing nations to provide "contributions of personnel and equipment for a potential mission," Blinken said last week.
Blinken said any such intervention would be "very limited in scope, limited in time" and focused on propping up the Haitian national police, a body that has struggled to keep criminal gangs at bay in recent months.
According to the United Nations, nearly half of Haiti's 11 million people face acute hunger and 1.8 million are at risk of a food emergency. In Cité Soleil, a sprawling slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, roughly 19,000 people face a food "catastrophe," the UN said.
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