https://newsletter.mw.creamermedia.com
Gas
Gas
gas

Former Trafigura COO’s Swiss corruption trial set for December

15th August 2024

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

The Swiss trial of Trafigura Group and its former COO Mike Wainwright on corruption charges has been scheduled for December — in a case that’s likely to shine a renewed light on allegations of wrongdoing in commodity trading.

The Swiss federal prosecutor’s office announced the charges against Wainwright, Trafigura, and two other individuals late last year. The website of Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court was recently updated to show that the trial is scheduled to run for seven days in early December, with a further seven days shown as reserve dates.

It will be the first time such a senior executive at a commodity trading firm has faced trial on corruption charges. Wainwright spent his whole career at Trafigura and for the past decade was one of the top trio who ran the company, one of the world’s largest traders of oil, gas and metals, before stepping down as COO last year.

A spokesperson for the Federal Criminal Court confirmed the trial date for the Trafigura case. A spokesperson for Trafigura declined to comment, while a lawyer for Wainwright didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Wainwright has denied the charges, while Trafigura — which pleaded guilty to separate corruption charges in the US in March — has said it will defend itself in court.

When they first announced the case, the Swiss prosecutors alleged that Wainwright approved bank transfers and cash payments totaling around $5 million to the head of a unit of Angola’s state oil company Sonangol between 2009 and 2011. The Angolan official was also charged, as was an intermediary who was described as a former Trafigura employee.

The case is one of several high-profile corruption cases to target individual commodity traders in recent months. Earlier this month, the UK’s top fraud agency charged Alex Beard, Glencore's former head of oil, and four other former employees with corruption. And a New York court in February found former Vitol Group trader Javier Aguilar guilty on three bribery and money-laundering charges after a seven-week trial.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Showroom

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

The SAIMM started as a learned society in 1894 after the invention of the cyanide process that saved the South African gold mining industry of the...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
John Ratcliffe
John Ratcliffe

At John Ratcliffe, we are aftermarket specialists for heavy-duty on and off-road vehicles. We engineer and retrofit advanced safety systems, engine...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (15/11/2024)
15th November 2024 By: Martin Creamer
Magazine round up | 15 November 2024
Magazine round up | 15 November 2024
15th November 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.086 0.182s - 129pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now