A former Gunvor Group manager was convicted by a Swiss court for bribing officials to secure oil contracts in Africa. The ex-trade finance executive received a two-year suspended sentence and must pay $950,000 in compensation plus $50,000 in legal fees.
Prosecutors accused him of paying $35.5 million in bribes to Congolese officials for oil deals.G.’s conviction follows last month’s bribery verdict against Trafigura and ex-COO Mike Wainwright over $5 million in bribes linked to $151 million in Angola.
He denies the charges and is appealing.Gunvor has faced Swiss legal trouble before. In 2018, a former trader got an 18-month suspended sentence for bribery in Congo and Ivory Coast. In 2019, the company paid $95 million to settle a Swiss probe. Those cases led prosecutors to pursue G.Gunvor declined to comment, and G.’s lawyer was unavailable.The Swiss attorney general’s office called the ruling a win in the fight against international corruption, a key priority.
Swiss law requires that convictions are not binding until all appeals are exhausted, so white-collar criminals typically avoid prison until that process is complete.Gunvor’s legal troubles extend beyond Switzerland. It paid $662 million last year to resolve US and Swiss corruption charges in Ecuador.In the Congo case, prosecutors identified over 35 payments, ranging from $150,000 to $3.5 million, funneled through Geneva and Brussels banks to middlemen in the bribery scheme.Prosecutors cited emails showing G. knew he was generating false receipts for bribes.
In 2011, he told a convicted colleague to tweak wording in invoices to avoid bank scrutiny.His emails, prosecutors argued, left no doubt he understood and accepted the corruption.
