DR Congo: Glencore pays $180m in latest corruption case

The Swiss-based mining company, Glencore, has said it will pay $180m (£147m) to the Democratic Republic of Congo to settle corruption claims.

It is the latest in a series of corruption cases which has seen Glencore agree to pay out more than $1.6bn in fines this year.

In May it admitted to bribing officials in several African nations including DR Congo (DRC).

In May, the US Department of Justice said that Glencore had admitted to corruptly conspiring to pay around $27.5m to third parties to secure “improper business advantages” in DRC, while “intending a portion of the payments to be used as bribes”.

The mining firm said the settlement with the Congolese government would cover “all present and future claims arising from any alleged acts of corruption” by the Glencore Group between 2007 and 2018.

In May, Glencore also admitted to paying millions in bribes to officials in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Sudan, Brazil and Venezuela.

Remarking on the culture that developed at Glencore, Mr Justice Fraser said that “bribery was accepted as part of the West Africa desk’s way of doing business”.