State oil company in Cameroon says employees connected to bribery from Glencore will appear in court in the UK

A UK court will hear arguments from a few managers and staff members over their possible involvement in bribery offenses connected to Swiss commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L), according to the chairman of Cameroon’s National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH), opens new tab.

The administrator and director general of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, had previously denied staff participation. However, late on Friday, he released a statement stating that several workers had been identified as suspects and would appear in court in the United Kingdom on September 10.

In June 2022, the UK subsidiary of Glencore entered a plea of guilty to seven counts of bribery related to oil activities in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Ivory Coast before a London court.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of Britain accused Alex Beard, the former head of Glencore’s oil division, on Thursday of two schemes to pay corruptly to government officials and staff members of state-owned oil businesses in Cameroon and Nigeria.

“SNH welcomes the progress of proceedings against the perpetrators and accomplices of the acts of corruption that have tarnished its image,” Moudiki said in a statement.

He did not specify how many employees of SNH took part.

In order to obtain privileged access to oil between 2011 and 2016, Glencore’s UK company acknowledged paying bribes of 7 billion CFA francs ($11 million) to SNH officials and other parties in Cameroon.

Akere Muna, a lawyer and anti-corruption expert from Cameroon, suggested that SNH stop doing business with Glencore and reveal the identity of people engaged.

Muna, a former vice-chair of corruption watchdog Transparency International, stated, “The culprits are within Cameroon; the transactions that gave rise to the corruption took place in Cameroon yet they expect us to believe the solution will come from London.”

The state anti-corruption commission of Cameroon said in July 2022 that an investigation into the bribery offense was in progress, but it has not provided any more information since.

The state-owned corporation SNH sells on the foreign market the portion of the country’s crude oil output that accrues to the state.