Swiss justice said Thursday that it had condemned the trader in raw materials Gunvor to pay nearly 94 million Swiss francs (85 million euros) for corruption in Congo and Côte d'Ivoire. In a press release, the Office of the Attorney General of the Confederation (MPC) explains that "due to serious shortcomings in its internal organization", the Geneva trader "did not prevent, between 2008 and 2011, the corruption of agents of the Republic of Congo and Côte d'Ivoire, corruption which aimed to gain access to the oil markets" of these African countries. It therefore condemns "the company Gunvor to the payment of an amount of nearly CHF 94 million", including a fine of 4 million which will be paid to the canton of Geneva, where Gunvor's offices are located. The remaining 90 million will be paid to the Confederation in the form of a "compensatory claim", corresponding to all the profits made by Gunvor on the business in question carried out in Congo and Côte d'Ivoire. The MPC indicates that "other people - former collaborator of the oil trader or financial intermediaries - are currently under investigation for in particular suspicions of corruption of foreign public officials, money laundering and unfair management". "It appears that the risk of corruption was then accepted by Gunvor and was inherent in the commercial activity of the company, at the very least on the markets in question", notes the MPC, stressing that Gunvor had "neither a code of conduct to give a clear signal and guide employees in their activities, nor a compliance program". Subsequently, the oil trader, whose headquarters are in Nicosia (Cyprus) but whose main trading offices are in Geneva, "also did not attempt to manage the risk of corruption linked to the use of agents for obtaining oil shipments and to whom commissions of tens of millions of US dollars were paid between 2009 and 2012". The Swiss justice also found, "that at the material time, other irregularities and warning signs had been ignored" by the company, "in particular authorizations for numerous payments to third-party offshore companies without any link with oil activities or even the fact of backdating supporting letters to the attention of banks". In a statement sent to AFP, Gunvor's director, Torbjorn Tornqvist, admitted that "during the period under investigation, from 2008 to 2011, Gunvor's compliance program was indeed inadequate". The company says it has accepted the MPC's proposed settlement, but stresses "there was no knowing or willful involvement by employees or members of management in the activities in question." It also states that "no current employee or business partner of Gunvor is involved in any ongoing related proceedings or investigation."