GENEVA (AP) — Swiss federal prosecutors on Tuesday stated they’ve indicted a former worker of oil buying and selling firm Gunvor over bribes paid to acquire entry to the Republic of Congo’s petroleum market greater than a decade in the past.
The legal professional normal’s workplace stated the indictment follows an eight-year investigation, throughout which the corporate itself was ordered to pay 94 million Swiss francs ($94 million) in 2019 over the bribery allegations.
The suspect, who wasn’t recognized by title, was chargeable for Gunvor’s monetary issues in Congo-Brazzaville between June 2010 and December 2011, and is accused of “actively collaborating within the bribery of overseas public officers,” the legal professional normal’s workplace stated in an announcement.
A spokesman for the corporate declined to remark.
The 2019 determination that penalized Gunvor included almost 90 million francs — a sum stated to be near the quantity of earnings the corporate had earned from the bribery operations within the African nation — in addition to 4 million francs in fines, 1 million under the utmost allowed in such instances underneath Swiss legislation.
Gunvor was co-founded by Swedish oil magnate Torbjörn Törnqvist, its present chairman, and Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch near Russian President Vladimir Putin who’s now not affiliated with it.
The corporate web site says Timchenko’s shares, in anticipation of “potential financial sanctions,” have been bought to Törnqvist in March 2014 — as Russia moved to annex the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
The subsequent day, the U.S. authorities introduced sanctions in opposition to Russian pursuits, together with Timchenko himself.
Gunvor has since stopped its operations within the Republic of Congo, and stated it has improved its compliance packages.
Final 12 months, the agency posted revenues of $150 billion, a greater than 40% enhance from 2021 and up from $50 billion in 2020, in accordance with its 2023 brochure.
Gunvor’s important buying and selling workplace is in Geneva, however its headquarters are in Nicosia, Cyprus.
