Trafigura and Ex-COO Convicted of Bribery by Swiss Court
- Joachim Vansanten
- Jan 31
- 1 min read
Updated: Apr 22
"The ruling is a historic moment, making Wainwright the first senior executive at a major trading house ever to be convicted of corruption and Trafigura the first company of its size in Swiss history to be convicted at trial for allowing the payment of bribes."
Wainwright might be the first, but he won't be the last...
A few connections to the Nyrstar case:
1/ Michael Firth, Trafigura’s Deputy Head of Compliance since 2010, testified before Swiss judges that the company reached a “tipping point” that year when corruption concerns began to outweigh commercial benefits. Trafigura had first invested in Nyrstar in 2014 and fully took over the company in 2019.
2/ Michael Wainwright and Jeremy Weir, CEO of Trafigura, directly influenced the remuneration of Martyn Konig, Nyrstar’s (executive) Chairman. Wainwright and Weir were the sole directors of T Wealth, the private family office managing assets for current and former Trafigura partners, where Martyn Konig served as CIO.
3/ Sebastião Balbino, formerly the head of Trafigura’s joint venture in Angola, later became the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Nyrstar.
