(Bloomberg) -- Trafigura and its former chief operating officer were convicted by a Swiss court on bribery charges, the first time a senior executive at a major commodity trading house has been found guilty of corruption.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Mike Wainwright, Trafigura’s ex-COO, was sentenced to 32 months in jail, of which 20 months are suspended, the Federal Criminal Court ruled on Friday in Bellinzona, Switzerland.
Switzerland, a key hub for the commodities trading sector, has been under pressure to prove it can be tough on an industry that’s long operated under a light regulatory touch. The ruling is a historic moment, with Trafigura the first company of its size in Swiss history to be convicted at trial for allowing the payment of bribes.
The case is the latest to shine a light on wrongdoing in the commodity trading industry. The judgment comes after most of the industry’s largest players, including Glencore Plc, Vitol Group and Trafigura itself, have admitted to corruption in countries from Brazil to South Sudan.
Trafigura, which had been charged through its Dutch holding company Trafigura Beheer BV, was found guilty of not having sufficient systems in place to prevent bribery, and was ordered to pay a fine of 3 million Swiss francs ($3.3 million). The company was also ordered to pay $145.6 million in a compensation claim to the Swiss Confederation.
The verdict caps a tough period for Trafigura, one of the world’s largest traders of oil, gas and metals. In a tumultuous two years, the company has suffered major losses from alleged frauds, has pleaded guilty to separate corruption allegations in the US, and has settled charges of market manipulation.
The case revolved around allegations that Trafigura bribed an Angolan official with more than $5 million in payments and cash gifts in return for lucrative oil contracts that netted it some $151 million. The official, Paulo Gouveia Junior, who was also on trial for accepting the bribes, was found guilty.
A third person, Thierry Plojoux, a middleman and former Trafigura employee charged with conspiring with Wainwright to pay the bribes, was also convicted.
The court said on Friday that Wainwright’s use of a USB stick to share information with a middleman — who prosecutors said was dubbed “Mr. Non-Compliant” — could only be explained by a desire to hide information about the illicit payments at the heart of the bribery scheme. The court cited the fact Wainwright asked the man to bring the USB stick to Trafigura’s office as he wanted to wipe it “properly” as evidence of his intentions.