The UK accounting regulator has launched an investigation into Deloitte over its auditing of Glencore, following a corruption scandal at the FTSE 100 mining and commodities trading group.
The Financial Reporting Council said on Wednesday it was probing whether Deloitte “gave sufficient consideration to the risk of noncompliance with laws and regulations” when it signed off Glencore’s accounts between 2013 and 2020.
Glencore pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2022 following sprawling investigations by authorities in the US, UK and Brazil, agreeing to pay about $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion) of penalties following allegations of bribery and market manipulation.
The US Department of Justice said at the time that Glencore and its subsidiaries had made and hidden “corrupt payments and bribes” in multiple countries over the course of a decade, including to “avoid government audits” and to “make lawsuits disappear”.
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In the UK, Glencore pleaded guilty to seven counts of bribery in 2022 and was ordered to pay almost £300 million (€346 million). Prosecutors told a London court during the trial that a middleman paid by the company had flown cash in private jets across Africa in order to bribe officials.
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has also charged six former Glencore executives, including its ex-head of oil, in relation to allegations of bribery by the group’s oil trading division in Africa, in a trial that is yet to begin.
Swiss authorities last year also ordered Glencore to pay $152 million after a four-year investigation into alleged bribery of a Congolese public official by one of Glencore’s business partners. Swiss authorities did not find that Glencore staff knew of the bribery, nor that the company benefited financially.
Glencore paid Deloitte $182 million for its audits between 2013 and 2020, including for audits of its subsidiaries.
The FRC has the power to impose penalties on auditors, including fines. The watchdog said its probe related to audits of Glencore plc and its subsidiary Glencore Energy UK Limited.
Deloitte’s work on four separate audits is already being examined by UK regulators, including its audit of Stenn, a fintech that collapsed into administration in December after its lenders began probing potentially suspicious transactions.
The other investigations relate to the Big Four firm’s work on transport group Go-Ahead, upmarket clothing retailer Joules and car dealership Lookers.
Deloitte said it was “committed to the highest standards of audit quality” and would “fully co-operate” with the investigation.
Glencore declined to comment. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
