Switzerland Charges Trafigura and a Former Top Executive With Bribery

Swiss prosecutors charged a former top executive at Trafigura with paying millions of dollars’ worth of bribes to land the energy trader preferential treatment in African oil producer Angola.

Mike Wainwright allegedly funneled the payments to an Angolan official by transferring more than 4.3 million euros, equivalent to $4.6 million, to a bank account in Geneva between 2009 and 2011, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said when it announced the criminal charges on Wednesday. He handed over $604,000 in cash in Angola, prosecutors said in an indictment at the Federal Criminal Court.