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Zurich Glencore stumbles towards the next scandal. The United States Department of Justice has requested documents and other documents from the resource company. The agency is investigating a possible violation of US laws on bribery and money laundering in Nigeria, Congo and Venezuela.
"Glencore evaluates this badignment and will provide more information in a timely manner." Investors were shocked by the allegation of money laundering. Glencore's shares have fallen by as much as twelve percent in the decline. Investors seem to fear stiff penalties for the company.
This is not the first survey of the world's largest commodity trader. The commodities giant is active in politically sensitive markets and has repeatedly criticized its trading practices, most recently in the Congo.
There, the group exploits copper and cobalt on a large scale. The latter is an essential raw material for electromobility. In order to secure the mining rights in the African country, the commodities company has accepted a questionable deal with the Israeli businessman Dan Gertler.
Gertler landed on allegations of corruption on a US government sanctions list. This put Glencore in a delicate position because the group was committed to paying royalties to Gertler.
After months of struggle, Glencore resumed his payments to Gertler in June. A legal dispute with the Congolese mining company Gecamines also appears to have ended after Glencore's Katanga subsidiary agreed to make payments. The question seemed finally settled, but now the Congo stores have apparently called American justice to the scene.
For Glencore, the convening of the United States is also inappropriate because the company wants to fine-tune its image: CEO Glasenberg, who has been doing business since 2002, sought to talk to critics and put sustainability and transparency on their banners.
For example, last week, the Group released payments to government agencies for the third time. Thus, Glencore paid about $ 4.5 billion worldwide in taxes, royalties and fees last year. Of these, more than 400 million dollars were donated to the Congolese state. With the reports, the company meets its critics who have targeted Glencore and other commodity companies for their disrespect.
So much transparency would have been unthinkable in the past: Glencore's founder, Marc Rich, was considered an unscrupulous cartwright formed from the start-up founded in 1974, the world's largest commodity trader . His company was dealing with despots such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, as well as with the South African apartheets regime, he did business.
Rich's oil deals with Iran in the 1980s, US authorities are on the scene and end up on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list. US agents tried unsuccessfully to kidnap him. As one of his last acts, US President Bill Clinton pardoned Rich in 2001. The founder of Glencore died in Lucerne in 2013.
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