Glencore’s former head of oil pleads not guilty to bribery charges
Billionaire Alex Beard and his former deputy appear in London court over alleged payments to African officials Glencore’s billionaire former head of oil trading has pleaded not guilty to two bribery charges after allegedly facilitating payments to west African officials in order to advance the Swiss commodity group’s operations in the continent. Alex Beard, 59, denied two counts of conspiracy to…
Former Glencore head of oil trading, Alex Beard, pleaded not guilty to two bribery charges in London court on Thursday. Beard, 59, denied charges of conspiring to make corrupt payments to west African officials to advance Glencore's operations in the continent. The case, brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), alleges that Beard facilitated payments to government or state-owned oil company officials in Nigeria (2010-2014) and Cameroon (2007-2014).
Also in the dock was Beard's former deputy, Andrew Gibson, 66, who pleaded not guilty to four counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments, as well as an additional charge of conspiring to falsify accounting documents. Four other former Glencore traders - Martin Wakefield, David Perez, Paul Hopkirk, and Ramon Labiaga - previously pleaded not guilty to all charges and will stand trial next year.
The SFO spokesperson stated that the bribery case against the six former Glencore employees is progressing towards trial on 4 October 2027.
Written by urgent.news from Guardian Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
