Glencore to Pay $152 Million in Bribery Case

By Christian Moess Laursen

Glencore will pay $152.3 million in fine and compensation after failing to have taken necessary measures to prevent a business partner from bribing a Congolese public official in 2011, the Swiss attorney general ruled Monday.

The commodity mining and trading giant said the office of the attorney general ruled that no Glencore employees had knowledge of the bribery and that the company didn't benefit from it.

The case is related an acquisition by the Glencore business partner of minority stakes in two mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from a state-owned mining company in 2011.

The attorney general sentenced Glencore to a 2-million Swiss franc ($2.3 million) fine and imposed a compensation of $150 million in respect of the estimated benefit obtained by the business partner.

"Glencore has cooperated fully with the investigation by the OAG and taken significant measures to enhance its compliance program," the company said, adding that this was taken into account as mitigating factors in setting the amount of the fine.

Glencore said it won't appeal the summary penalty order.

Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 05, 2024 09:23 ET (13:23 GMT)

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