Swiss authorities probe Gunvor’s Gabon oil deal amid corruption concerns

Geneva-based commodity trader Gunvor is facing fresh criminal scrutiny in Switzerland over a nearly $1 billion oil contract with Gabon. The investigation, led by the Swiss Attorney General’s Office, is examining the award conditions and financial structure of the deal involving Gabonese crude shipments. As a global hub for oil trading, Geneva has increasingly become a focal point for legal challenges tied to African resource deals.

Gabon’s oil sales under renewed legal scrutiny

The Swiss probe centers on a contract worth close to a billion dollars in Gabonese crude oil, according to disclosed records. Prosecutors are investigating whether middlemen received payments intended to sway Gabonese officials in granting the deal. Gabon, Africa’s twelfth-largest oil producer with roughly 200,000 barrels per day, remains heavily reliant on crude sales for state revenue.

The transaction under review dates to a period when Libreville sought to diversify buyers and monetize output quickly. So-called pre-financing deals—where traders advance funds against future oil deliveries—have become common in oil-dependent African nations struggling with price volatility. These arrangements, often opaque by design, are now drawing stricter oversight from European and North American regulators.

Gunvor’s troubled African track record

For Gunvor, this latest investigation follows a 2019 settlement in which the company paid nearly 94 million Swiss francs to Swiss authorities for failures in anti-corruption controls tied to deals in Congo-Brazzaville and Côte d’Ivoire. At the time, Gunvor pledged to overhaul internal compliance systems under pressure from banks and institutional partners.

The recurring legal exposure raises questions about the long-term effectiveness of these reforms. Swiss authorities, long criticized for leniency toward trading giants, have since adopted a tougher stance. The 2020 introduction of a corporate criminal liability framework for corruption prevention has expanded prosecutorial reach. The trading sector, which accounts for about 4% of Switzerland’s GDP, is now a prime target of this enforcement drive.

Gabon under pressure to clean up oil revenue chains

The timing of the Swiss investigation adds strain to Gabon’s transitional leadership, which has made transparency in oil revenues a pillar of its legitimacy. The Gabonese Refining Company and the national oil firm Gabon Oil Company are being pressed to clarify marketing channels inherited from the previous decade. Formal cooperation with Swiss investigators could help Libreville signal a break from past practices.

However, the stakes extend beyond bilateral relations. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)—to which Gabon has re-joined—oversees contract disclosures. Multilateral lenders, including the International Monetary Fund, tie financial support to improved governance in the hydrocarbons sector. Evidence of misconduct involving Gabonese intermediaries could impact ongoing negotiations for a new funding program.

For Swiss trading firms, the ripple effects could be significant. Gunvor’s rivals, already facing similar probes in Angola, Nigeria, and the Republic of the Congo, will watch closely how Swiss prosecutors frame the case. The potential seizure of illicit profits—reportedly totaling tens of millions in comparable cases—serves as a deterrent. The Swiss investigation is now formally underway and could yield further developments in the coming months.