Glencore's former head of oil Alex Beard has been charged with bribery offences relating to the Swiss commodity trader's operations in Africa, Britain's Serious Fraud Office said on Thursday.
Beard, 56, is charged with two conspiracies to allegedly make corrupt payments to government officials and officials of state-owned oil companies in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014 and in Cameroon between 2007 and 2014, the SFO said.
He is one of five former Glencore employees charged with conspiracy to make corrupt payments and is the most high-profile commodity trader to have been charged in Britain for alleged corruption.
Beard joined Glencore in 1995 from BP, the biggest trading desk at that time, and became head of oil in 2007, a position he held until he retired in 2019.
Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga and Martin Wakefield have also been charged relating to Glencore's operations in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
