By Clara Denina and Kirstin Ridley
LONDON (Reuters) – Glencore said on Tuesday it plans to pay up to $1.5 billion to settle bribery and market manipulation allegations investigated by U.S., British and Brazilian officials.
Three of the mining and commodities trading giant’s units have agreed to deals.
In Brazil, the Federal Public Ministry said on Tuesday that the leniency agreement with the trading company, which operates in the purchase and sale of oil and derivatives, will involve direct payments of US$39.6 million to Petrobras.
According to the MPF, the company acknowledged making payments to intermediaries, who made undue payments to Petrobras employees in exchange for facilities that would put Glencore at an advantage in the purchase and sale of fuels carried out by the Brazilian state-owned company in the foreign market.
In the agreement signed, according to the MPF, in addition to recognizing the illicit practices and making the compensation for damages, the reversal of undue advantages and the payment of fines, the Glencore group undertook to present relevant information and evidence about the illicit acts, identifying the participants .
Petrobras has claimed to be a victim of illicit acts and that it collaborates with the investigations.
Glencore is due to pay $1.06 billion in the US and Brazil, and expects a final global settlement, including a future UK fine, not to exceed the $1.5 billion mark it set aside in February for investigations. related to operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Venezuela.
The UK’s Office of Serious Fraud (SFO), which opened a corruption investigation in 2019 called “Operation Azoth”, said on Tuesday that it exposed “bribery and corruption for profit” in oil operations in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea. , Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan.
Glencore Energy (UK) Ltd, which indicated it would plead guilty to all charges at a hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates Court, will be sentenced on 21 June. The SFO, which said it works in parallel with the US Department of Justice and Dutch and Swiss prosecutors, alleged that Glencore agents and employees paid bribes worth more than $25 million for preferential access to oil, with the company’s approval. .
(By Kirstin Ridley and Clara Denina; additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Jonathan Stempel, and Yadarisa Shabong)
((Translation by the São Paulo Newsroom))
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