THE GLENCORE TRAGEDY
In May 2022, the United States department of justice said
Glencore, and its United Kingdom subsidiaries, entered into multiple agreements
to purchase crude oil and refined petroleum products from the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through shady deals.
In Nigeria alone, the department said Glencore and its
subsidiaries paid more than $52 million to the intermediaries, intending that
those funds be used, at least in part, to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.
In the same month, Glencore agreed to pay about $1.5 billion
in total to resolve investigations in the US, United Kingdom and Brazil — of
which $1.06 billion was payable to agencies in the US and Brazil.
A London court, In November 2022, ordered Glencore to pay a
$310.6 million (£276.4 million) penalty for seven bribery offences in relation
to its oil operations in Africa.
Glencore had pleaded guilty to five counts of bribery in
relation to a total of $26.9 million, which was paid “primarily to officials in
state-owned oil companies” in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
The company also admitted to two charges of failing to
prevent bribery over payments of approximately $1 million to agents in
Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan, to secure “valuable oil contracts”.
When Nigeria, in October 2022, tried to claim compensation from the British
mining and trading group, a UK judge ruled that the nation did not have the
right to be heard.
FAGBEMI: NIGERIA TO
RECEIVE £2.1M FROM BAILIWICK OF JERSEY
Speaking further, Fagbemi said Nigeria is set to receive
about £2.1 million in corruption proceeds from the Bailiwick of Jersey.
“The ministry achieved the following successes under its
international asset recovery and management efforts,” he said.
“The asset sharing agreement between the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and the Bailiwick of Jersey was signed in February 2024 for the return
of £2,125,944 proceeds of corruption.”
Fagbemi said the proceeds have been approved by President
Bola Tinubu to continue works on the Abuja-Kano road project.
