The sacked chief executive of London-listed Endeavour Mining was involved in $15m (£12m) of “deliberately disguised” payments made to a party based in the UAE, an investigation has found.
Sébastien de Montessus transferred the money in 2020 and 2021 to an unknown entity, according to investigators, who said they had failed in their efforts to unmask the recipient.
London-listed Endeavour Mining fired Mr Montessus in January, alleging he had made an irregular payment of $5.9m to an unknown third party in March 2021 relating to the sale of its Agbaou gold mine in the Ivory Coast.
Fast growing gold miner able to make deals and sign contracts in West Africa.
The idea that there were not, erm, consultancy contracts is the surprising one.