Allegations that British American Tobacco was involved in bribery and corruption in Africa are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, despite the cigarette company’s attempts to downplay the significance of a whistleblower who handed over a dossier of evidence.

BAT, now the largest tobacco company in the world after the recent merger with Reynolds, has consistently denied the allegations of Paul Hopkins, whom it employed in Africa for 13 years. When Hopkins handed over a large number of documents to the SFO in December 2015, BAT dismissed him as “a rogue former employee”.

The company later toned down its criticism, stating that it had appointed a team of external legal advisers to investigate the charges.

The SFO’s inquiries have now become a formal investigation. In a statement it said it was “investigating suspicions of corruption in the conduct of business by BAT, its subsidiaries and associated persons”. It invited members of the public to come forward with any evidence they might have.

The news follows a major Guardian investigation revealing that BAT and other multinationals have used threats against at least eight African nations, demanding they axe or dilute the kind of tobacco control measures that have saved millions of lives in the west.

BAT said it continued to conduct its own inquiries into Hopkins’ charges. “We have been cooperating with the Serious Fraud Office and British American Tobacco has been informed that the SFO has now opened a formal investigation. BAT intends to cooperate with that investigation,” it said.



The company would not confirm whether the investigation concerned the allegations made by Hopkins.

He has claimed he paid bribes on the company’s behalf to the Kenya Revenue Authority for access to information that BAT could use against its Kenyan competitor Mastermind. Hopkins also claimed that BAT Kenya had paid bribes to government officials in Burundi, Rwanda and Comoros to undermine tobacco control regulations.

BAT hired the law firm Linklaters in February 2016 to conduct a “full investigation” into the claims made by Hopkins. BAT later dropped Linklaters and appointed Slaughter and May as sole adviser on the case.

Louis Charalambous, Hopkins’ solicitor, said BAT had changed its tone. “We note, with interest, that BAT have abandoned their earlier PR strategy of trying to shoot the messenger,” he said in a statement.

“Paul Hopkins blew the whistle during his time at BAT and their internal team ignored him. Previously BAT tried to wriggle out by saying that Mr Hopkins had left their employ in acrimonious circumstances when, in fact, that was untrue. They also wrongly suggested that he had acted on his own, and portrayed themselves as the victims.



“Now their new external law firm and revised PR strategy are silent about Mr Hopkins. They need to go further and set the record straight. The company cannot rewrite this history, and we look forward to seeing them answer these allegations in due course.”



Hopkins said he had turned whistleblower at a cost to himself. “I rejected an enhanced redundancy package designed to force me to sign a global confidentially agreement and just took statutory redundancy instead,” he said.

Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of the campaigning charity Ash, said: “At the time the allegations of fraud in Africa were first made against BAT the company accused the whistle blower of having a vendetta against the company and peddling falsehoods.

“Eighteen months later and BAT is having to admit it’s under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The SFO must leave no stone unturned.”

Matthew Myers, the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called on the US government to also investigate BAT. “The allegations against British American Tobacco are serious and should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.

“As British American Tobacco now operates the largest publicly traded tobacco company within the United States, we urge the US Department of Justice to also investigate the company’s alleged misconduct.”

The BAT chief executive, Nicandro Durante, told the Financial Times in March that the firm would “act in a very strong way” if wrongdoing was found to have taken place. He said: “We are in 200 countries, so I cannot give a 100% guarantee that everything’s going to go by the book.”

The SFO investigation is another blow to the company, after the US health watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration, announced tighter regulations on the tobacco industry, which hit shares in tobacco firms.



