The SFO opened an investigation into Glencore in 2019, focussed on the activity of the London-based West Africa desk. This desk sourced and traded in crude oil from countries across Africa.
The investigation uncovered a trail of text messages, large cash withdrawals and deliberately concealed payments that showed Glencore paid bribes worth a total of $29m to secure its access to oil in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan.
In Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast, Glencore was revealed to have used well-connected local agents to funnel bribes into state-owned oil companies and government ministries, often disguising a bribe as an unspecified “service fee”, “signing bonus” or “success fee” in financial reports.
Investigating offences that occurred between 2011 and 2016 regarding bribery in order to get preferential access to oil.
Glencore Energy UK Ltd required to pay £280,965,092.95 million (over 400 million USD) after an SFO investigation revealed it paid US $29 million in bribes to gain preferential access to oil in Africa.
Commenting on the financial penalty – the largest ever for an SFO case following a conviction, Mr Justice Fraser noted: “This is a significant overall total. Other companies tempted to engage in similar corruption should be aware that similar sanctions lie ahead.”
Glencore pleaded guilty in June 2022 to seven counts of bribery, after an SFO investigation exposed that it had paid bribes to maximise its oil trading profits in five African countries. The conviction includes the first ever use of substantive bribery offences for a company, meaning senior individuals at Glencore authorised the bribery instead of simply failing to prevent it.
The financial penalty ordered by the Judge includes a fine, a confiscation order for the profit it obtained from bribes, and the SFO’s costs in full. The confiscation order is not only the largest ever for an SFO case, the total amount the company will pay (£280 million) is the highest ever ordered in a corporate criminal conviction.
In June 2022 Glencore pleaded guilty and were orders to pay c£183m in fines, a confiscation order of £93.5m and SFO costs of £4.6m.
Criminal case in UK:
Dec 2019 Glencore group of companies case announced by the SFO
May 2022 Glencore Energy (UK) charged with seven counts of bribery to face at Southwark Crown Court in June 26, 2025
June 2022 Glencore Energy pleaded guilty to all counts
Nov 2022 Glencore Energy (UK) sentenced and a confiscation order was granted for C£93.5m
Other jurisdictions including USA and Brazil launched separate investigations into this case.
The start of the asset recovery process was triggered by leads from a US investigation and internal red flags related to Glencore’s West Africa Trading desk.
Assets Confiscated
| Document Title | Size and Format | Document Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Judgement on Application for Compensation Order | 198.94 KB pdf | Court document | Download |