The oil and gas company Perenco is targeted in France by several preliminary investigations opened for bribery of foreign public officials, including in African countries where it operates, sources close to the investigation said Thursday.
As part of these procedures, the Paris offices of the Franco-British company were searched by investigators from the Central Office for Combating Financial and Tax Offences (Oclciff), in charge of the investigations, these sources added, confirming information from Challenges. However, the sources did not specify how many investigations were opened, when they were opened, which countries were targeted and when the search was conducted.
When contacted by AFP, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) refused to comment. “Perenco confirms that it cooperated with the investigating authorities in February 2022, which the group was pleased to do. Perenco has had no further contact in this matter since then,” the group said, contacted by AFP, at its London headquarters. Present in 15 foreign countries, with 6,000 employees and about 500,000 barrels/day declared, Perenco counted among its top executives Jean-Michel Runacher, father of the current Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. It is the only company operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where its subsidiaries operate 11 oil fields on the Muanda coastline. Not listed on the stock exchange and founded by Breton entrepreneur Hubert Perrodo, the company has made his family the 15th richest in France, according to the 2022 ranking of Challenges magazine.
At the beginning of November, the two French NGOs Friends of the Earth and Sherpa took the company to court to obtain its condemnation for the environmental damage caused by its drilling in the DRC. Perenco has operations in three other African countries, Gabon, Congo and Cameroon.
