Trafigura Found Guilty in Angolan Chartering Bribery Scheme

 

In a precedent-setting corporate corruption case in Switzerland, commodity trading house Trafigura has been convicted on charges related to a $5 million bribery scheme in its operations in Angola.

According to Swiss prosecutors, Trafigura paid off an Angolan oil official in exchange for his signature on eight lucrative ship charter contracts and one bunkering contract. 

Over the course of 2009-11, prosecutors said, the Angolan official received a cash bribe of $600,000 and an additional $4.3 million that Trafigura paid into a shell company in the Virgin Islands. The payments were made through a Swiss contractor - a former employee who only did business with Trafigura and was known as "Mr. Non-Compliant," prosecutors said. 

Over the course of the Angolan chartering and bunkering contracts, the arrangement netted Trafigura $144 million in profits - a return of nearly 3,000 percent on the $5 million bribe. 

Trafigura denied wrongdoing, but prosecutors showed the court an extensive collection of memos and emails detailing the network of shell companies used to route the payments. Ultimately the court found Trafigura guilty and sentenced the firm to pay about $150 million in fines and compensation - nullifying its profit from the contracts. 

Former COO Mike Wainwright was also convicted of orchestrating the corrupt scheme, and was sentenced to 32 months in prison (including at least 12 months before probation). He plans to appeal, and that process will place the sentence on hold. 

"The court found Mr. Wainwright guilty based on general assumptions and disregarded key evidence that shows he was not involved in any bribery scheme," Wainwright's lawyer said in a statement. 

The Angolan official and one other individual were also found guilty, but were not named due to Swiss privacy rules.