SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Roman Huber, Cristina Ess and Lea Ruckstuhl, Kellerhals Carrard
Banknotes Case Company DD, a subsidiary of company D (a world leader in manufacturing machinery for the printing of banknotes), self-reported a pos - sible breach of Article 102, paragraph 2 in con - junction with Article 322septies of the SCC in connection with a deal in Nigeria to the OAG on 19 November 2015. This spontaneous initia - tive was followed in April 2016 by the reporting of further suspicions concerning other deals in Morocco, Brazil and Kazakhstan. The value of the contracts secured by the company in these four countries was CHF626 million and the total paid in bribes was CHF24.6 million. In a summa - ry punishment order of 23 March 2017, company DD was convicted and fined CHF1. It was also required to make a compensation payment of CHF35 million, of which CHF5 million was paid into a fund for the improvement of compliance standards in the banknotes industry. Gunvor Case 1 In a summary penalty order from October 2019, the OAG convicted the Geneva commodities trader Gunvor of failing to take all the organi - sational measures that were reasonable and necessary to prevent its employees and agents from bribing public officials (Article 102, para - graph 2 in conjunction with Article 322septies of the SCC). The investigation revealed that Gun - vor’s employees and agents bribed public offi - cials in the Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast to gain access to their petroleum markets. The company failed to prevent these acts of corrup - tion owing to serious deficiencies in its internal organisation. Gunvor was fined CHF4 million, which took into account the efforts that had been made since 2012 to improve their compli - ance and governance practice. In addition, Gun - vor must pay compensation of almost CHF90 million, 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 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 mil - lion is a penalty. The Geneva-based commodity trading company is therefore criminally liable for bribery of foreign public officials (Article 322sep - ties 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 Febru - ary 2013 and February 2017, bribes amount- ing 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 indi - viduals have pleaded guilty in the United States of America. According to the OAG’s summary penalty order, the corrupt transactions in ques - tion, some of which were carried out via the Swiss financial centre, provided the GUNVOR Group with direct advantages, as Petroecuador 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 implemen - tation, were obviously not sufficient to prevent the company from actually taking advantage of the existing opportunities for corrupt practices in the course of its business relationship with an Ecuadorian state-owned oil company. Therefore GUNVOR SA is ordered to pay a fine of CHF4.3
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