Calls for DRC to benefit from $150m Glencore corruption damages

After the Swiss attorney general fined commodities group Glencore CHF2 million ($2.3 million) and ordered it to pay compensation of $150 million over corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Swiss legislator has echoed the demands of Congolese NGOs that at least part of these damages should be allocated to the DRC, instead of remaining in Swiss state coffers. After a four-year investigation, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) issued a summary penalty order against Glencore on August 5, 2024, finding it guilty of failing to take all necessary measures to prevent corruption in the DRC. Prosecutors concluded that bribes were paid for the acquisition of mining rights in the DRC in 2011. OAG investigations revealed that around $26 million was directed from Swiss accounts to a foreign businessman, a figure close to the DRC government. Of this sum, around $10 million was delivered in cash directly to then president Joseph Kabila's closest adviser on mining. The ...