Former Glencore employee Paul Hopkirk arrives on the day Glencore's former head of oil Alex Beard appears on bribery charges at Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville
LONDON (Reuters) -Four ex-Glencore oil traders on Monday pleaded not guilty in a London court to bribery charges relating to the Swiss commodity trader's operations in west Africa ahead of their trial in 2027.
Martin Wakefield pleaded not guilty to three charges of conspiring to give corrupt payments to government officials in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast for Glencore's benefit between 2007 and 2014.
David Perez denied two counts of conspiring to give corrupt payments relating to operations in Cameroon and Ivory Coast. Paul Hopkirk and Ramon Labiaga pleaded not guilty to one charge in relation to Nigeria.
Perez and Wakefield denied a further charge of conspiracy to falsify documents relating to invoices purporting to show service fees were owed between 2007 and 2011.
Their trial is due to begin in October 2027 and take up to six months.
Glencore's former head of oil Alex Beard was also charged with bribery offences last year, as was former head of oil operations Andrew Gibson.
Beard and Gibson, who had both indicated at their first court appearance last year that they would plead not guilty, did not appear or enter pleas on Monday.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Robert Harvey, Editing by Sam Tabahriti and Catarina Demony)
