Keystone-SDA
The criminal trial of commodities trader Trafigura and its former operations director opened on Monday in Bellinzona. This is the first time that a company has appeared before the Federal Criminal Court for acts of corruption abroad.
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December 2, 2024 – 8:03 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Trafigura, one of the world’s leading commodities traders and parent company of Belgian zinc company Nyrstar, allegedly paid €4.3 million to a senior official at Angola’s national oil company Sonangol, via a bank account in Geneva. This manager, considered an Angolan civil servant by the Swiss authorities, would also have received $604,000 in cash and benefited from the payment of his hotel stay by Trafigura.
These payments, made between 2009 and 2011, allegedly enabled Trafigura to obtain lucrative contracts for the storage and transportation of oil on behalf of Sonangol. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPC) estimates that Trafigura made a profit of $143.7 million from these contracts.
Parallel with Credit Suisse
From the first day of the trial, Trafigura’s lawyers drew parallels with a recent decision in the Credit Suisse case, where the three-veiled bank’s conviction was overturned after the death of a former employee. “His death makes it impossible to determine whether the bank broke the law without violating the deceased’s presumption of innocence,” the appeals court said.
Myriam Fehr Alaoui, Trafigura’s lawyer, discussed the case of the former CEO of Trafigura, who died in 2015. She asked the court: “How can a company be held responsible for an offense allegedly committed by a person whose guilt has not been established and can never be established, without violating the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence? »
Trafigura’s other lawyer, Jean-François Ducrest, requested the annulment of the testimony of a former board member, obtained in exchange for a reduced sentence. “Everything was flawed from the start,” he argued.
The trial is expected to last more than three weeks. Trafigura risks a fine of 5 million francs, as well as the reimbursement of unduly received profits. The former operations director faces a five-year prison sentence, with the possibility of appeal. According to his lawyer, Daniel Kinzer, he denies all accusations.
The Angolan official who allegedly received the bribes was also in court Monday, as was a Swiss intermediary.
