Commodities firm Trafigura goes on Swiss trial over alleged bribes paid to win Angola oil contract

GENEVA — For the first time in Switzerland, a multinational company faces a criminal trial Monday on charges of bribing a foreign public official, with alleged payments totaling about $5 million, to win lucrative oil industry contracts in Angola.

Commodities trader Trafigura Group said Sunday it intended to defend itself against allegations that its former parent company did not have “reasonable and necessary” measures in place at the time to prevent unlawful payments to a former employee of Angola’s state oil company.

The case underscores renewed allegations of bribery in the commodities trading business, which have ensnared other big participants such as Swiss-based Glencore, and Gunvor, which is based in Cyprus but has major operations in Switzerland.

Last December, Swiss federal prosecutors announced that the company and three people — a former high-level Trafigura employee, a former official with Angolan state oil company Sonangol, and an ex-Trafigura employee acting as an intermediary — were indicted for alleged roles in bribery.

The former Angolan official has been charged with having accepted bribes of more than 4.3 million euros and $604,000 from Trafigura Group between April 2009 and October 2011.

Trafigura said it has invested “significant resources” in strengthening its compliance program over a number of years. The defendants are entitled to a presumption of innocence as the court case plays out in Switzerland.

The trial at the Swiss federal criminal court in the southern city of Bellinzona is set to run through Dec. 20 but could be extended into January.

Trafigura, with headquarters in Singapore, operates in sectors like oil and petroleum, metals and mining, and gas and power, and has more than 12,000 employees around the world.