The Serious Fraud Office has released a press release in which Glencore Energy UK Ltd will pay £281m after an SFO investigation revealed it paid US $29m in bribes to gain preferential access to oil in five African countries.
The financial penalty ordered by the Judge includes a fine, a confiscation order for the profit it obtained from bribes, and the SFO’s costs. This marks the largest confiscation order for an SFO case and the highest ever ordered in a corporate criminal conviction. This financial penalty highlights increasing efforts to protect the UK’s reputation as a safe place to do business and acts as a warning to other companies tempted to engage in similar corruption.