Anthony Stimler, a former Glencore trader who pleaded guilty earlier this week to bribing for favourable NNPC contracts, paid as much as $300,000 in bribes to fund the election campaign of a senior government official.
This was disclosed in a report by Bloomberg as details of the nature of the bribes emerged in court documents. Prosecutors say Stimler and many other western commodity traders paid millions in bribes between 2007 to 2018 to African government officials including officials of Nigeria’s NNPC.
“A co-conspirator notified Stimler by email in September 2014 that a “high-ranking Nigerian official” who was not identified had set conditions for companies wishing to secure crude shipments — NNPC’s customers “are giving in advance $300,000 each month/cargo plus a certain amount which varies at the moment.
“The payments were to be made “in connection with a then-upcoming political election” in the West African nation, the prosecutors said in summarizing the co-conspirator’s email. The court filings don’t explain how the money was to be used in the election or if it was spent for that purpose.
“In October 2014, Stimler had a Glencore subsidiary wire $300,000 to the Cyprus bank account of an unidentified intermediary company, which U.S. officials said was used “to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.” Stimler then followed up with an email to two co-conspirators saying that managers at the Glencore subsidiary had authorized the payment and asked them to “please please make sure on your side, NNPC perform[s],” Court filings showed.
“Other payments include a transfer of $500,000 in March 2014 to an intermediary company, with the intent to “pass on a portion of the payment to a foreign official in Nigeria to assist” Glencore in “obtaining business advantages, including eligibility to purchase oil cargoes from the NNPC.”
Another includes a May 2015 $50,000 wire to another intermediary company as an “advance payment” against delivery of a June crude oil cargo, after a co-conspirator had offered in April to pay a bribe to a Nigerian official to secure the shipment.
Authorities have allowed Stimler to remain free in the U.K. on a $500,000 bond.
Sources reported earlier this week that Anthony Stimler, an ex- Glencore trader pleaded guilty to a scheme to bribe officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for favourable oil contracts after Stimler pleaded guilty to U.S prosecutors.
According to a Reuters report, Stimler admitted to conspiring to both violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and perpetuate money laundering, at a hearing in a Manhattan federal court conducted by video, according to court records
