Trafigura and its former chief operating officer were convicted by a Swiss court on bribery charges, the first time a senior executive at a major commodity trading house has been found guilty of corruption.

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.

Switzerland’s top criminal court convicted a multinational company for the first time, ruling against commodities trader Trafigura in a case of bribery linked to lucrative oil industry contracts in Angola.

Switzerland's top criminal court has convicted Trafigura and former executive Mike Wainwright of corruption through bribes for Angolan oil contracts. The firm must pay $148 million in fines, with Wainwright sentenced to 32 months in prison.

Swiss judges will issue a verdict on Friday in a corruption trial involving commodities trader Trafigura and three other defendants who allegedly paid bribes to an Angolan oil official in exchange for oil deals.

A Swiss court has convicted trading giant Trafigura and its former operating chief Mike Wainwright on bribery charges linked to shipping deals in Angola. Wainwright, the former chief operating officer, was sentenced to 32 months in jail by a court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, with 20 months suspended.

Switzerland's highest criminal court found Trafigura and former executive Mike Wainwright guilty of corruption related to payments for Angolan oil contracts. The court imposed over $148 million in fines on the company and sentenced Wainwright to 32 months,

In a landmark case, the court handed the company's British former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright, who has also competed as a racing driver, a 32-month jail sentence and fined the company $148m (£119m). This is the first time an entire company has been charged by Switzerland's highest court, and bribery convictions of senior staff are rare.

A Swiss court convicted Trafigura and three people linked to the commodities trading firm of corruption in Angola, in what campaigners hailed Friday as a "historic" first in Switzerland.