Cameroon's anti-graft agency says investigations into Glencore bribery underway

CSR

19/07/2022 17:00

By Amindeh Blaise Atabong
    YAOUNDE, July 19 (Reuters) - Cameroon's anti-corruption
agency is investigating claims by miner and commodities trader
Glencore Plc  GLEN.L  that it paid bribes to officials at
state-run companies in exchange for favours, an official said on
Tuesday. 
    Dieudonne Massi Gams, chairman of the central African
country's National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC), told
Reuters that the agency had set up a commission of inquiry since
complaints made by civil society and local media.
    "We are working on it and will take our time in order to
produce good results," Gams said, without giving further
details. 
    In June, Glencore's UK subsidiary pleaded guilty to seven
counts of bribery in connection with oil operations in Cameroon,
Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Y80LE
    The company has admitted it paid bribes in Cameroon to
officials of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) and
National Refining Company (SONARA) to the sum of 7 billion CFA
francs ($11 million) to secure preferential access to oil
between 2011 and 2016.
    Sentencing in London is due on Nov. 2 and 3. 
    SNH has denied taking bribes, saying it was not directly or
indirectly associated with the practices. SONARA was not
available for comment.  
    The scandal is a test of Cameroon's determination to fight
corruption, said Akere Muna, a Cameroonian lawyer and
anti-corruption specialist. He was dismayed that CONAC has not
made a public statement about its inquiry, he said. 
    "To fight corruption you must be transparent," said Muna, a
former Vice Chairperson of Transparency International.
    "They just have one thing to  do . Ask Glencore, 'Who did
you pay?' That is taking them forever. Glencore is still doing
business in Cameroon!" he told Reuters by phone from Kinshasa. 
($1 = 638.5000 CFA francs)

 (Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Nellie Peyton
and Frank Jack Daniel)
 ((nellie.peyton@thomsonreuters.com; +221 77 298 1636;))