Billionaire Alex Beard and his former deputy appear in London court over alleged payments to African officials
Simon GoodleyThu 10 Sep 2026 07.41 EDTLast modified on Thu 10 Sep 2026 10.17 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleGlencore’s billionaire former head of oil trading has pleaded not guilty to two bribery charges after allegedly facilitating payments to west African officials in order to advance the Swiss commodity group’s operations in the continent.
Alex Beard, 59, denied two counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments at Southwark crown court in London on Thursday, in a case brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The oil trader, who emerged from obscurity when he was revealed as a billionaire during Glencore’s flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 2011, is alleged to have been involved in a conspiracy to make corrupt payments to government or state-owned oil company officials in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014 and in Cameroon between 2007 and 2014.
A relaxed-looking Beard, wearing an open-neck shirt and sports jacket, appeared in the dock alongside his former deputy Andrew Gibson, who was Glencore’s head of oil operations. Gibson also denied four counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments in Nigeria, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire.
Gibson, 66, also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of conspiracy to falsify documents required for an accounting purpose.
Four other former Glencore traders – Martin Wakefield, David Perez, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga – previously pleaded not guilty to all charges in the same case last year.
The six defendants are due to stand trial next year.
An SFO spokesperson said:“We continue to progress our bribery case against six former Glencore employees ahead of trial on 4 October 2027.”
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