(Bloomberg) -- Glencore Plc will pay $152 million after Swiss authorities wrapped up an investigation into the commodities trader and miner, marking the end of more than six years of legal probes across Europe and the Americas.
Swiss prosecutors found that Glencore failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the bribery of a Congolese public official by a business partner in 2011, the office of the attorney general said in a statement on Monday.
Glencore said it does not admit the findings, but has agreed not to appeal the summary penalty order in the interests of resolving the matter. A parallel investigation by the Dutch Prosecution Service has also been concluded and dismissed.
“The OAG stated in the summary penalty order that it did not identify that any Glencore employees had any knowledge of the bribery by the business partner, nor did Glencore benefit financially from the conduct of the business partner,” Glencore said in its statement.
With the latest penalties, Glencore will have paid at least $1.7 billion to resolve various investigations into bribery and corruption around the world. The company in 2022 pleaded guilty to corruption and market manipulation cases in the US and UK, admitting that it had paid bribes to win business in eight countries from Brazil to South Sudan.
Under the leadership of former Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore built its business over the previous two decades into one of the world’s biggest commodity traders and miners, in part by being willing to operating in countries where few others would dare to venture. It invested in mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, dug for oil in Chad and cut deals across Russia and Kazakhstan.
The probes into Glencore have formed part of a wider web of investigations into wrongdoing by the world’s biggest commodity traders. Rivals including Trafigura Group and Gunvor Group Ltd. have also admitted to paying bribes to resolve investigations.
“Glencore is pleased to have resolved these investigations relating to past matters that occurred over 13 years ago,” Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said in a statement. “This resolves the last of the previously disclosed government investigations into historical misconduct.”
Glencore’s “failure to take all necessary and reasonable organizational measures” warranted a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.4 million) fine and the further $150 million in compensation, the Swiss Attorney-General’s Office said in a statement on Monday.
Although Switzerland is not known for issuing heavy penalties against its banks or commodity traders compared to US regulators, the Swiss AG suggested the penalty could’ve been stiffer and said the sanctions took Glencore’s cooperation into account. While Glencore did not admit the findings, the Swiss authorities said the company was found criminally liable.
--With assistance from Jack Farchy.
(Updates with additional background details.)
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