(Sept 10): Alex Beard, the billionaire ex-head of oil at Glencore plc, pleaded not guilty to bribery and corruption at court in London, setting up a highly anticipated trial next year. 

Beard and his former colleague Andy Gibson, ex-head of oil operations, are accused of conspiring to make corrupt payments to government officials and state-owned oil firm employees in Nigeria, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast more than a decade ago. 

Gibson entered not guilty pleas to four charges of conspiracy to give corrupt payments and one for conspiring to falsify documents on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court. Beard pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to give corrupt payments. The judge granted the two men bail. 

In 2024, a London judge set a trial start date in June 2027 to hear the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) case, but the case has since been pushed back to October. It’s expected to run for as long as six months.

“We continue to progress our bribery case against six former Glencore employees ahead of trial  [Oct 4, 2027]", the SFO said by email. 

Alongside Beard and Gibson, former Glencore employees Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, Martin Wakefield and David Perez are standing trial.

Until his departure from Glencore in 2019, Beard was part of the inner circle of former chief executive Ivan Glasenberg as one of a dozen department heads who made up Glencore’s management board. Gibson was head of oil operations at Glencore, and was Beard’s right hand man for much of their time at the trading giant.

After working at BP plc, Beard joined Glencore in 1995, becoming division head in 2007 and was known for his acumen trading Russian oil. When the company listed in London in 2011 he was revealed to be one of its largest shareholders with a stake worth US$2.8 billion (RM11.39 billion).

The Sunday Times estimated Beard’s wealth at more than £1.9 billion (RM10.47 billion) in its Rich List published in May. 

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