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Swiss court finds ex-Gunvor executive guilty of corruption

Former Gunvor executive gets 24-month suspended sentence
Former Gunvor executive gets 24-month suspended sentence Keystone-SDA

On Thursday, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court sentenced a former trade finance manager of the Gunvor oil trading group to a 24-month suspended prison sentence. The Frenchman was found guilty of active bribery of foreign public officials.

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The 47-year-old is accused of having participated in the payment of $35 million (CHF32 million) to senior officials of the Société nationale des pétroles du Congo (SNPC) and the entourage of the President of the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

According to the Swiss Federal Attorney General’s Office (MPC), these payments enabled Gunvor to load 15 tankers between 2010 and 2011, representing a total of over 13 million barrels of crude oil.

+ Gunvor held criminally liable for corruptionExternal link

Another company executive was convicted of the same charges in 2018. As for Gunvor, it was sanctioned in 2019 for failings in its internal organisation and fined CHF4 million, with a compensatory claim of almost CHF90 million.

Translated from French by DeepL/jdp

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