GENEVA, Switzerland — For the primary time in Switzerland, a multinational firm faces a prison trial Monday on costs of bribing a overseas public official, with alleged funds totaling about $5 million, to win profitable oil trade contracts in Angola.

Commodities dealer Trafigura Group mentioned Sunday it meant to defend itself in opposition to allegations that its former mother or father firm didn’t have “reasonable and necessary” measures in place on the time to forestall illegal funds to a former worker of Angola’s state oil firm.

The case underscores renewed allegations of bribery within the commodities buying and selling enterprise, which have ensnared different large members comparable to Swiss-based Glencore, and Gunvor, which relies in Cyprus however has main operations in Switzerland.

Last December, Swiss federal prosecutors introduced that the corporate and three individuals — a former high-level Trafigura worker, a former official with Angolan state oil firm Sonangol, and an ex-Trafigura worker performing as an middleman — had been indicted for alleged roles in bribery.

The former Angolan official has been charged with having accepted bribes of greater than 4.3 million euros and $604,000 from Trafigura Group between April 2009 and October 2011.

Trafigura mentioned it has invested “significant resources” in strengthening its compliance programme over numerous years. The defendants are entitled to a presumption of innocence because the court docket case performs out in Switzerland.

The trial on the Swiss federal prison court docket within the southern metropolis of Bellinzona is about to run by way of December 20 however may very well be prolonged into January.

Trafigura, with headquarters in Singapore, operates in sectors like oil and petroleum, metals and mining, and gasoline and energy, and has greater than 12,000 staff all over the world. – AP