Africa: UK Lawmaker Calls for Investigation Into London-Listed Oil Company Over Bribery Allegations

25 February 2015
press release

A leader of a cross-party anti-corruption group of British MPs yesterday called for UK and US authorities to investigate claims that Soco International, a London-listed oil company, may have breached anti-corruption legislation in the course of its work in Africa's oldest national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Analysis by Global Witness, based in part on undercover footage shot by the makers of the Oscar-nominated 'Virunga' documentary, showed that Soco and its contractors have made illicit payments, appear to have paid off armed rebels and talked dismissively about the ecosystem of Virunga National Park. Soco's oil block overlaps with Virunga, a UNESCO World Heritage site in eastern Congo that is home to around a quarter of world's remaining mountain gorillas.

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