Endeavour Mining probe finds more ‘secret’ payments worth an estimated £12m

An investigation into Endeavor Mining’s sacked boss has uncovered two more ‘deliberately disguised’ payments worth an estimated £12 million.

Sébastien de Montessus was ousted in January after the London-listed gold company said the Frenchman had made an “irregular payment” of £4 million without reporting it to the board.

The Canadian group’s shares fell sharply, leading to its demotion from the FTSE 100 last month.

Yesterday the miner said De Montessus and others “caused” it to make two more payments in 2020, totaling £12 million, to a third party who received the £4 million.

Endeavor was unable to determine who the beneficial owner was, but said the money had been handed over to an entity in the UAE.

No evidence of ‘bribery, or payments to sanctioned persons or to terrorist groups’ was found.

De Montessus, 49, was one of the FTSE 100’s highest-paid bosses.

In 2021, he earned £18.8 million for moving the primary listing from Canada to London.

In January the company said it was aware of De Montessus’ alleged misconduct and would recover £23 million of his wages.

Adventure shares rose by 5.3 percent, after falling by more than a third this year.

De Montessus said: “I have co-operated fully with the investigation and am extremely disappointed that I have once again been denied the opportunity to respond to allegations before they are published.

$15 million was advanced to an established contractor, Endeavor suffered no loss and I received no benefit.

‘I understand that those amounts have been correctly settled with the invoices of that contractor.’