BELLINZONA, Switzerland (Jan 31): Switzerland's top criminal court convicted trading house Trafigura and a former senior executive of corruption on Friday in an unprecedented case over payments made to an Angolan official in exchange for oil contracts.

It ordered Trafigura to pay a fine of three million Swiss francs (RM14.5 million) and US$145.6 million (RM638.84 million) in compensation, and sentenced Trafigura's former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright to 32 months in prison, of which 12 must be served.

Wainwright's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict, which will place the prison sentence on hold pending the outcome.

The case was the first time in Switzerland that a company was charged at its highest court with corrupting a foreign official, and a very rare instance globally of a former top executive of a trading firm landing in the dock.

"It is a strong signal that reflects the determination of [Swiss prosecutors] to combat all forms of transnational corruption, particularly in the commodities sector," the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said in a statement.

Prosecutors alleged that Trafigura and others paid bribes of over US$5 million via a network of intermediaries to the Angolan official to win oil deals from 2009 to 2011.

Trafigura has previously said the anti-bribery and anti-corruption controls and the compliance programme in place at the time at its parent company met legal requirements and good practice standards.

Trafigura lawyer Jean-Francois Ducrest said the Singapore-based commodities trading firm, which has major operations in Geneva, would take stock of the situation.

"It is a first step in a long judicial process," he said.

Wainwright, who has also had a successful career as a racing driver, has denied all the allegations against him.

The 51-year-old Briton sat in court with his arms crossed as the verdict was read out.

Two other defendants, whom Reuters did not name due to restrictions under Swiss privacy rules, were also found guilty. They had denied the charges as well. They were not present.

During the trial in the southern Swiss city of Bellinzona, the court was shown dozens of pages of documents, memos, emails and messages as supporting evidence.

Some involved an ex-Trafigura employee whom the indictment says was nicknamed "Mr Non-Compliant" by late Trafigura founder Claude Dauphin because he did things forbidden at the group.

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