SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: François Micheli, Roman Huber, Cristina Ess and Lea Ruckstuhl, Kellerhals Carrard
Steinmetz Appeal Rejected (2025) Billionaire Beny Steinmetz lost his appeal before Switzerland’s highest courts regarding his corrup - tion conviction involving bribery in Guinea. His earlier conviction (upheld by the Geneva appeals court) had involved a bribery scheme in which USD8.5 million was paid to Mamadie Touré, wife of former Guinean President Conté, in connection with mining rights. The rejection of the appeal reinforces that Swiss courts are willing to sustain sentences in major transnational corruption matters and underscores that high-profile defendants may not evade final accountability. JP Morgan Suisse – Money Laundering/ Organisational Failures (2025) The OAG in Switzerland issued a summary penalty order against JP Morgan (Suisse) SA, imposing a fine of CHF3 million for failing to put in place adequate organisational measures to prevent aggravated mon - ey laundering. The underlying transactions involved outbound transfers totalling approximately CHF174 million during 2014–15. This decision reflects increas - ing scrutiny on financial institutions’ duty of care and compliance capabilities – including that inability to prevent illicit flows can attract direct penalties. Gunvor Case 1 (2019) In a summary penalty order from October 2019, the OAG convicted the Geneva commodities trader Gun - vor of failing to take all the organisational measures that were reasonable and necessary to prevent its employees and agents from bribing public officials (Article 102, paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 322 septies of the SCC). The investigation revealed that Gunvor’s employees and agents bribed public officials in the Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast to gain access to their petroleum markets. The company failed to prevent these acts of corruption owing to serious deficiencies in its internal organisation. Gun - vor was fined CHF4 million, which took into account the efforts that had been made since 2012 to improve their compliance and governance practice. In addition, Gunvor must pay compensation of almost CHF90 mil - lion, which corresponds to the total profit that Gunvor made from the business in question in the Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast.
Gunvor Case 2 (2024) By decision of 1 March 2024, the OAG ordered the company GUNVOR SA to pay a fine of around CHF86.7 million, of which CHF4.3 million is a penalty. The Geneva-based commodity trading company is therefore criminally liable for bribery of foreign public officials (Article 322 septies paragraph 1 of the SCC in conjunction with Article 102 paragraph 2 of the SCC). As a result of the OAG’s investigations, it was possible to prove that, at least between February 2013 and February 2017, bribes amounting to around USD7.5 million were paid to an Ecuadorian public official in a leading position at the state-owned oil company. The bribes were paid with the help of a former employee of the GUNVOR Group and two intermediaries acting through an offshore company. These three individuals have pleaded guilty in the United States of America. According to the OAG’s summary penalty order, the corrupt transactions in question, some of which were carried out via the Swiss financial centre, provided the GUNVOR Group with direct advantages, as Petro - ecuador subsequently concluded oil trading contracts with two companies with which the GUNVOR Group had back-to-back agreements. The OAG concluded that the risk analysis in force at GUNVOR from February 2013 to February 2017, as well as the measures and processes to combat corruption and their effective implementation, were obviously not sufficient to prevent the company from actually taking advantage of the existing opportuni - ties for corrupt practices in the course of its business relationship with an Ecuadorian state-owned oil com - pany. Therefore, GUNVOR SA was ordered to pay a fine of CHF4.3 million and a claim for restitution in the amount of approximately CHF82.3 million (which corresponds to a portion of the profit that the GUN - VOR group was able to generate thanks to the corrupt contracts). SECO Case (2021) In September 2021, the FCC in Bellinzona sentenced a former SECO employee to four years and four months’ imprisonment. The criminal division found the former SECO employee guilty of multiple forgeries of official documents and multiple taking of bribes. The bribery affair came to light in 2014 and is regarded as one of
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