Glencore Sets Up Board Committee to Deal With Corruption Probe
Glencore Sets Up Board Committee to Deal With Corruption Probe
(Bloomberg) -- Glencore Plc has set up a board committee to respond to a U.S probe into possible corruption at the world’s biggest commodity trader.
The committee is formed of chairman and former BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, as well as non-executive directors Patrice Merrin and Leonhard Fischer, Baar, Switzerland-based Glencore said in a statement Wednesday.
Glencore last week said the Department of Justice demanded documents relating to possible corruption and money laundering regarding its business in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela over the past decade. The news marked the latest twist in a tumultuous year for the company, knocking about $5 billion off its market value in just a day.
On July 5, Glencore moved to soothe investor concerns by saying it’ll buy back as much as $1 billion of its shares this year.
“Glencore takes ethics and compliance seriously throughout the group,” Hayward said in the statement. “The company will cooperate with the DOJ, while continuing to focus on our business and seeking to maximize the value we create for our diverse stakeholders in a responsible and transparent manner.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin
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