Commodities giant Glencore\n \n has been ordered to pay a record £281 million penalty by a UK court for bribing officials across Africa to gain access to oil. The UK government’s Serious Fraud Office , which brought the case against Glencore Energy UK, said on Thursday that the penalty was the biggest ever handed out for a corporate criminal conviction in the country. In June, the commodities trader admitted to seven counts of bribery at a court in London.
Private jets stashed with cash Judge Peter Fraser said Thursday that “bribery was accepted as part of [Glencore’s] West Africa desk’s way of doing business” and was “endemic amongst [its] traders.” Bribes paid to state-owned oil companies and government ministries across Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast were often concealed as an unspecified “service fee”, “signing bonus” or “success fee,” the SFO said, citing Glencore’s financial reports.
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Shame on British Justice system! People end up in jail for stealing from a corner store; but stealing from millions in former colonies is just “fines” and no “jail”.