Glencore boss hit by scandal scoops £90m

THE boss of Glencore is set to scoop a windfall worth about £90m just days after it emerged the firm is facing a fraud probe.

Ivan Glasenberg will be handed the cash tomorrow as the commodities giant he has run since 2002 pays out the first half of a dividend.

The 61-year- old, who owns an 8.4pc stake in Glencore, will receive the second half of the payment, worth another £90m, in late September.

Glasenberg’s Glencore shares are worth £4.7bn. The village where he lives in Switzerland has slashed taxes for its residents because of the huge sums it earns from the mining tycoon.

His latest windfall comes amid reports that the company faces an investigation into allegations of bribery at its operations in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Serious Fraud Office is looking into the group’s ties to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, who once owned stakes in two of Glencore’s projects in the mineral-rich country.

Gertler, 44, was sanctioned by the US last year for ‘opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals’ in DRC, Africa’s biggest copper producer. It is claimed that Gertler used his friendship with DRC president Joseph Kabila to strike deals as he built his fortune.

The looming probe by the SFO is just the latest headache for Glasenberg and Glencore, which is based in Switzerland and is one of the world’s biggest mining and commodity trading firms.

Gertler is suing Glencore for more than £2bn that he claims is owed to him from projects in the DRC. And Glencore was recently forced to cut its ties with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska after he was hit with sanctions by the US.

Glasenberg, a married father of two, was born in South Africa, where he became a race-walking champion.

He now lives in Rüschlikon, which has become known as the ‘richest village in Switzerland’ after cutting its tax rate following a £270m windfall from Glasenberg in 2011 when Glencore was floated on the stock market in London.

In Switzerland, a large portion of income taxes are paid to the local community rather than the state, however, some have expressed concerns over the origins of Glasenberg’s wealth as his company has been accused of polluting the environment and paying little in taxes in developing countries where it operates.