A Swiss court has found global commodity trading company, Trafigura, and its former Chief Operating Officer, Mike Wainwright, guilty of bribing an Angolan official to secure oil contracts.
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, ruled on Friday that Trafigura must pay a fine of 3 million Swiss francs ($3.3 million) and $145.6 million in compensation, while Wainwright was sentenced to 32 months in prison, with 12 months to be served.
Judge Stephan Zenger, explaining the verdict, stated that Trafigura failed to monitor payments to intermediaries effectively.
“The shortcomings noted are not negligible,” he told the court, adding that a company of Trafigura’s scale should have exercised better oversight.
Prosecutors accused Trafigura and its associates of paying over $5 million in bribes between 2009 and 2011 through intermediaries to secure oil deals with Angola.
Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General described the ruling as a major step in tackling corruption in the commodities sector. “It is a strong signal that reflects the determination to combat all forms of transnational corruption,” the office said in a statement.
However, Wainwright, a 51-year-old British national, denied the allegations and has said he will appeal the verdict, which puts his prison sentence on hold until the appeal is decided. His lawyer stated that they would challenge the ruling in higher courts.
In additiion, Trafigura, a Singapore-based firm with significant operations in Geneva, expressed disappointment with the court’s decision.
The company’s lawyer, Jean-Francois Ducrest, noted that this was only the beginning of a long legal process. “It is a first step, and we will take stock of the situation,” he said.
In a statement, Trafigura mentioned that it had strengthened its compliance program in recent years and would review its next steps following the ruling.
Two other defendants, including the Angolan official involved in the scheme, were also convicted. One was sentenced to 36 months, with part of the sentence suspended, while the other received a fully suspended 24-month sentence. Due to Swiss privacy laws, their names were not disclosed.
During the trial, the court reviewed extensive documentary evidence, including memos, emails, and internal messages. Some of these referenced an ex-Trafigura employee who, according to the indictment, was informally called “Mr. Non-Compliant” by the company’s late founder, Claude Dauphin, for engaging in unauthorized activities.
The case marks the first time a Swiss court has convicted a multinational trading firm for bribery at its highest judicial level, setting a precedent for future prosecutions in the sector.
