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Glencore chairman leads bribery investigation

The chairman of Swiss-headquartered mining company Glencore plc and two other directors formed a new committee to respond to the DOJ’s subpoena related to compliance with the FCPA and money laundering laws.

Non-executive chairman Tony Hayward and independent directors Leonhard Fischer and Patrice Merrin make up the committee, the company said Wednesday.

The DOJ subpoena requested documents related to Glencore’s business “in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela from 2007 to present.”

Last week the company confirmed it received a DOJ subpoena targeting FCPA compliance.

In November 2017, Glencore disclosed an investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) about a subsidiary’s “corporate governance practices,” according to data from FCPA Tracker.

The OSC investigation also covered risk disclosure “in connection with applicable requirements under certain international bribery, government payment and anti-corruption laws,” the 2017 statement said.

Hayward, 61, a UK citizen, became the CEO of BP in 2007. He held the position when the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred in April 2010. He left BP later that year.

In Wednesday’s statement, Hayward said Glencore “takes ethics and compliance seriously throughout the Group.”

The company will cooperate with the DOJ, Hayward said.

In March of this year Canadian mining company Kinross Gold Corporation settled FCPA charges brought by the SEC and paid a civil penalty of $950,000.

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Harry Cassin is the managing editor of the FCPA Blog.

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1 Comment

  1. I'm glad you reminded us that Tony Hayward is the same Tony Hayward who was CEO of BP at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. He has experience with "robust" US investigations, but didn't stay long enough to oversee the conclusion of the investigations, the remedial actions or the monitors' input on the ethics & compliance program. Has he read Margaret Heffernan's "Willful Blindness"?


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