A senior judge has lifted orders that prevented the naming of five former Glencore executives who investigators have linked to a long-running bribery case.

Officials at the Serious Fraud Office had applied for orders originally to protect their investigations into alleged offences by individual executives after the FTSE 100 mining company pleaded guilty two years ago to a corporate charge of paying about £22 million in bribes.

The five former Glencore executives also made submissions to the court in 2022 for their identities to remain anonymous in future criminal proceedings.

But sitting in Southwark crown court in London, Lord Justice Fraser has discharged the orders, meaning that the five individuals can be named.

None is accused of any criminal offence, but they are cited in the prosecution’s case against six other former executives who have been charged with bribery offences and who are set to stand trial later this year.

The six made their first appearances at Westminster magistrates’ court several days ago and have so far not entered pleas.

The proceedings are set to be heard at Southwark crown court, with the next hearing scheduled for October 9.

Two years ago in October, the Serious Fraud Office applied to withhold the names of 17 individuals and three companies from a case summary that was submitted to the court in advance of the company’s sentencing.

Of those, the five former Glencore executives supported the application for anonymity, while lawyers for the company were neutral.

Spotlight on Corruption, a campaign group, was joined by several media organisations to oppose the application for anonymity. They argued that such an order with no time limit would go beyond what was required to protect a possible future prosecution of individuals.

But Fraser granted the application — although not in the unlimited terms sought by prosecutors.

Explaining his decision, the judge noted at the time that the SFO was in the middle of an active investigation and that the order should be reassessed once charging decisions were made.

At the time, the court said that the order should be reassessed by April 2023. But the SFO’s investigation took significantly longer than anticipated, resulting in three extensions of the order.

Now that the agency has charged six former executives — and said that it had aimed to charge another who has refused to travel to the UK from abroad — the orders have been lifted.

Justice campaigners have argued that given the public interest in the Glencore case — the company reported revenue of £218 billion last year — the identification of those named in court proceedings is a victory for transparency.

Two years ago, Glencore became the first business to be convicted under provisions of the Bribery Act 2010.

The SFO said it would not comment on ongoing proceedings.