UK Serious Fraud Office drops 10-year corruption inquiry into Kazakh miner ENRC

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Serious Fraud Office drops 10-year corruption inquiry into Kazakh miner ENRC

UK agency also shuts other high-profile cases including Rio Tinto investigation

Harry Davies and David Pegg
Thu 24 Aug 2023 19.19 BST
First published on Thu 24 Aug 2023 19.16 BST

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into the Kazakh mining group ENRC, ending a decade-long corruption inquiry mired in controversy.

The SFO updated its website on Thursday with a notice that it had closed the case after concluding there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to prosecute the company.

In a series of updates released on the same day, the agency said it had dropped three other investigations, including an inquiry opened in 2017 into suspected corruption involving the Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto.

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Launched in April 2013, the SFO’s investigation focused on allegations of bribery and fraud relating to ENRC’s acquisition of mining contracts in Africa.

In 2021, the company – which was co-founded by three Kazakh oligarchs – brought a £70m lawsuit against the SFO at the high court, alleging the agency had mishandled the investigation and committed misfeasance in public office.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/24/serious-office-drops-corruption-inquiry-kazah-miner-enrc-rio-tinto-investigation-uk

Non-walled link: https://archive.li/CdSOv

[peppertree]

1. Corruption does have a way of getting cases to be dropped

Corruption inquiry alright.