LONDON, Sept 10 (Askume) – Glencore PLC (GLEN.L)
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, Beard’s lawyer said he would plead not guilty.
57-year-old manHe was charged with two counts of conspiring to bribe government officials and state oil company officials in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014, and in Cameroon between 2007 and 2014.
Beard, the most high-profile commodity trader to be accused of corruption in the UK, joined Glencore in 1995 from BP, then its largest trading unit, and worked there from 2007 to 2019. He served as a petroleum business executive before retiring.
He helped Glencore become one of the three major oil trading companies, trading 7% of the world’s oil at its peak.
Four other former Glencore employees – Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Rabiaga and Martin Wakefield – are also accused of corrupt payments relating to Glencore’s trading in Nigeria, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.
Gibson and Hopkirk have pleaded not guilty through their lawyers. Rabiaga and Wakefield did not enter a plea and were not required to do so.
Gibson and Wakefield are also accused of conspiring to forge documents between 2007 and 2011.
Another former Glencore employee, David Perez, was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and racketeering. Perez did not enter a plea.
Prosecutor Alexandra Healy said the alleged offences were linked to the West Africa unit at Glencore’s London office.
The cases against all six defendants were sent to Southwark Crown Court for trial on 8 October.
