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Trafigura’s former chief operating officer has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for bribing a foreign official, marking the first time a top executive from a major commodity trader has been found guilty of corruption.
Mike Wainwright, who served as chief operating officer from 2008 until last year, was convicted by a Swiss court on Friday of paying more than €5mn in bribes to secure oil trading contracts in Angola between 2009 and 2011. Part of the 32-month sentence was suspended, with Wainwright ordered to serve at least 12.
Trafigura was found guilty of not having sufficient systems in place to prevent the bribery and ordered to pay more than $148mn in fines and compensation. It is the first time a company has been convicted at trial in Switzerland for bribery-related charges.
The conviction will be heralded as a landmark moment by anti-corruption campaigners, who have long called for Swiss courts to scrutinise the activities of the many commodity traders based in the country. Trafigura is registered in Singapore but its chief executive and most of its senior management sit in Geneva.
The decision marks a further setback for Trafigura, which has been trying to move on from allegations of past corrupt dealing. Last year, it pleaded guilty in the US to paying almost $20mn of “corrupt commissions” in Brazil.
The company said it was “disappointed” by the Swiss decision. “Trafigura has invested significant resources in strengthening its compliance programme over a number of years,” it said. “This includes implementing mandatory training for all staff, continuously strengthening its compliance policies, procedures and controls.”
During the trial, prosecutors described Wainwright as “the linchpin of the scheme” and accused the British executive of having “used methods worthy of a seasoned criminal” to disguise his activities.
The payments were made via third parties to an Angolan government official in exchange for oil bunkerage and shipping contracts worth more than $140mn in profits, the prosecutors alleged. The Angolan official and a third person, a middleman, were also convicted.
Trafigura was founded in 1993 when French trader Claude Dauphin and four other executives broke away from Marc Rich, the trading industry godfather who was by then wanted by US authorities for tax evasion and violating Iran sanctions.
Angola was central to Trafigura’s growth under Dauphin, who died in 2015. For years Trafigura dominated the supply of petroleum products in the country, generating bumper profits that supported the company’s transformation from a scrappy trader into a global commodity giant.
Wainwright joined Trafigura in 1996 and was one of the most senior people in the company for almost two decades.
A lawyer for Wainwright said his client would appeal against the verdict. “The court found Mr Wainwright guilty based on general assumptions and disregarded key evidence that shows he was not involved in any bribery scheme,” he said. “Mr Wainwright maintains that he has never made, or helped make payments with a corrupt intent.”
Under Swiss law those convicted continue to benefit from the presumption of innocence until any appeal process has been completed. Wainwright will only be required to serve the prison sentence if his planned appeal fails to overturn the verdict.
Trafigura did not say whether it would appeal against the decision, stating only that it was “reviewing the matter”.
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