For the first time, a Swiss Court will pass a judgment on the criminal liability of a company involved in the bribery of foreign public officials.
Court proceedings against Trafigura Beheer BV (TBBV) over the alleged bribery of an Angolan public official commenced today (2 December) in the Swiss Federal Court. Trafigura ex-CEO Mark Wainwright, who resigned from his post in March 2024, a former employee of an intermediary company for Trafigura and an Angolan public official are also named as defendants in the case.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) filed an indictment against the defendants on 5 December 2023, which included further charges against Netherlands-headquartered TBBV – the former parent company of Swiss-based commodities company Trafigura Group – for its failure to take all “reasonable and necessary” steps to prevent the payment of over USD 5 million in bribes.
The indictment stated that more than USD 4 million was transferred via bank transactions, along with USD 400,000 in cash payments, to an Angolan public official to secure favourable treatment for the Trafigura Group in shipping and oil deals with Sonangol Distribuidora, the former government-owned oil and gas company.
As of 2023, the Trafigura Group had allegedly made USD 143.7 million in profits from the bribery scheme, according to the OAG.
The indictment noted that the Trafigura Group’s failure to comply with international standards of anti-corruption compliance between 2009 and 2011 created a level of disorganisation which had “manifested itself up to the highest level of the company”. It further stated that, alongside the high corruption risk of conducting business in the Angolan petroleum industry, the group’s dealings with a state-owned company and its use of intermediary companies to advance its business interests in the country should have spurred the company to proactively address any compliance risks or concerns.
The Trafigura Group announced in a press release yesterday (1 December) that TBBV would defend itself in the court proceedings. It defended TBBV’s compliance controls, stating: “[Its] anti-bribery and anti-corruption controls and compliance programme in place at the relevant time have been externally reviewed and assessed to have met applicable legal requirements and international good practice standards.”
While the OAG had originally pursued charges of money laundering against the former Angolan public official, it filed an order abandoning the proceedings due to a failure to establish the element of intent.
The trial is expected to conclude on 20 December 2024, with a possible extension into January.
Earlier this year, TBBV pled guilty to violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing Brazilian government officials to secure business with the state-owned oil company Petrobras. The company agreed to pay over USD 126 million as part of its plea agreement.
TBBV’s fate might echo that of Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore, which pled guilty to bribing officials for access to oil fields in five African countries in 2022. The company, which had transferred a total of USD 28 million in bribes, was ordered to pay GBP 281 million by a London judge for its actions, and was fined CHF 2 million (USD 2.3 million) by OAG earlier this year over bribery in Democratic Republic of Congo.