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Endeavor Mining said an investigation into former chief executive Sébastien de Montessus uncovered two more “deliberately disguised” payments totaling $15 million to an unnamed third party.
The London-listed gold miner fired de Montessus in January, claiming the French executive instructed the company to make an irregular payment of $5.9 million in connection with an asset sale. The payment instruction had not been reported to the council.
In announcing the full results of an investigation by Linklaters and EY on Wednesday, Endeavor said de Montessus and certain others “caused” the company to make two payments of $15 million to the same third party that received the 5.9 million dollars.
The company added that the investigation failed to uncover the ultimate beneficiary of the payments, which were made to an offshore entity in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
The investigation found no evidence of “corruption or payments to sanctioned individuals or terrorist groups,” the company added.
De Montessus previously admitted he should have informed the council of the $5.9 million payment order, but denied any wrongdoing, saying the payment was made for security services.
De Montessus did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The Frenchman was the highest-paid chief executive in the FTSE 100 in 2021, earning $22.7 million, despite the company being a fraction of the size of major London Stock Exchange groups such as Shell and AstraZeneca.