Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, has revealed that Glencore is expected to pay Nigeria $50 million as a penalty for engaging in certain fraudulent activities in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by Fagbemi on Friday at the Ministerial Sectoral Updates held at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Garki, Abuja, according to Nairametrics.
The United Kingdom High Court in 2022, fined global commodity trader, Glencore GBP 728.4 million for bribing Nigerian officials to obtain favourable oil trading contracts.
Glencore’s UK energy trading company has admitted to paying bribes to officials of Nigeria and Cameroon between 2011 and 2016.
This was following the investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.
The company had acknowledged paying bribes in private jets to Nigerian officials before the judgment.
According to Fagbemi, the ministry recently concluded negotiations with Glencore, and the Glencore has agreed to pay compensation
He said, “The Ministry on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on April 25, 2024, concluded negotiation of a Settlement Agreement with Glencore International A.G. wherein Glencore is expected to pay the sum of USD 50 million as penalty and compensation for certain activities in Nigeria.“
Fagbemi added that the ministry had been very successful in its international asset recovery, foreign contracts, and management efforts.
He said that in February 2024, an asset-sharing agreement was signed between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Bailiwick of Jersey for the recovery of the proceeds of corruption amounting to £2,125,944
He also recalled the landmark Judgment in arbitration instituted against Nigeria by Process and Industrial Development Limited(P&ID), where a UK commercial Court set aside an arbitral award of over $11 billion granted against the Nigerian government in the United Kingdom for breach of a gas supply and processing agreement.
“Further to this, I am pleased to report that due to concerted efforts of our legal team Nigeria has been awarded interim costs for £20Million against P&ID.
“Useful lessons have been learned from this case, which had the potential of wiping off our entire foreign reserves,” Fagbemi said.
Fagbemi said the Justice Ministry streamlined the guidelines for the incorporation of companies limited by guarantee, in its bid to stimulate economic growth.
The Federal Ministry of Justice is the legal arm of Nigeria’s federal government, in particular for initiating civil cases on behalf of national governments.
The AGF is the federation’s chief law officer and also has a significant role to play in policy review and implementation.
