May 1, 2019
• Member of
U.K.’s House of Lords negotiated for Russian company
• There’s growing
scrutiny of peers’ outside business interests
Greg Barker, a
member of Britain’s House of Lords and the chairman of En+ Group Plc, was
awarded a bonus of about 3 million to 4 million pounds ($3.9 million to $5.2
million) for negotiating the removal of U.S. sanctions on the Russian company,
according to people familiar with the matter.
Barker spent
months shuttling between Washington, London and Moscow to put together an
agreement between the Treasury Department and Russian billionaire Oleg
Deripaska, who was sanctioned last April. The talks culminated in a deal in
which Deripaska agreed to step away from En+, which holds a controlling stake
in aluminum giant United Co. Rusal.
Barker’s work for
the Russian company has been the focus of scrutiny in Britain. He was briefly
under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards for an
“alleged breach of the Code in relation to personal honour, parliamentary services
and paid advocacy.” The complaint was dismissed in February.
The Sunday Times reported last weekend that the U.K. government is backing a
change in House of Lords rules to force greater disclosure of peers’ Russian
and Chinese business interests.
Barker confirmed
in March at the FT Global Commodities Summit that he would get a bonus for his
work on sanctions, describing it as “relatively modest.”
En+ hasn’t publicly
disclosed Barker’s pay. In reports, the company said it paid $16 million last
year to "key management personnel," which includes $1.8 million to
non-executive directors, including Barker.
Those
compensation figures don’t include Barker’s bonus because it was awarded when
the sanctions lifted in early 2019, the people said, asking not to be
identified discussing a sensitive matter.
Deripaska was
sanctioned in April 2018 by the U.S., which cited his close ties to the Russian
government as well as allegations that he “bribed a government official,
ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime
group.” Deripaska has denied those charges, calling them “absolutely
groundless, ridiculous and simply absurd.”
Jack Farchy
