Glencore Plc (GLNCY) shares plunged Tuesday after the world's biggest commodities trader said it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice seeking documents related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering statutes.
Glenore said the DOJ subpoena, dated July 2, relates to its business in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Venezuela and covers an eleven year period from 2007 to the present. The Baar, Switzerland-based group said it was "reviewing the subpoena and will provide further information in due course as appropriate."
Glencore shares fell more than 12.5% in London trading immediately following news of the subpoena receipt, the steepest one-day decline in three years, to change hands at 305.5 pence each, the lowest level since July 11.
Late last year, three Glencore executives resigned from the company's subsidiary in the DRC, Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Katanga Mining Ltd. (KATFF) , following an internal review into its accounting practices and an Ontario Securities Commission review into whether company reports "contain statements that are misleading in a material respect".
Glencore was also named in a November 2017 investigation by the Guardian newspaper in London and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that cited the so-called Paradise Papers and alleged the commodities trader had loaned "tens of millions of dollars" to Dan Gertler, an Israeli businessman, after asking him to secure a mining contract in the DRC.
Glenore said at the time that the loan was made in 2009 "at arm's length" to a company tied to Gertler and fully repaid the following the year.