Peter Jones, Campaign Leader at Global Witness, said today: 

“We welcome the news that Glencore is under investigation by the US commodities regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), for possible corrupt practices.

With the company already under investigation by the US Department of Justice, as well as the recent ruling against a Glencore subsidiary by Canadian regulators, this latest announcement further demonstrates that the heat is on for Glencore and its executives.

The CFTC investigation is another promising step towards holding Glencore to account for its suspect dealings and showing that this corporate behemoth is not above the law. At Global Witness, we have exposed the company’s murky mining transactions in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with sanctioned businessman Dan Gertler, a close friend of the former Congolese president, Joseph Kabila. These deals have potentially robbed the Congolese people of billions of dollars. 

We now also want to see the UK’s Serious Fraud Office open an official inquiry into the company’s activities in DRC, given that Glencore is one of the biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.”