20 Legal cases When commodity traders get caught
Adrià Budry Carbó & Britta Delmas, illustrations from Kalonji, 17. September 2024
Making a fuss does no good. In Switzerland’s commodities market, which has adopted this expression as a mantra, there is little appetite for justice. Even less so for trials that promise to unpack corrupt practices, negligence in the maintenance of infrastructure or serious human rights violations in the public arena.
Switzerland, which is home to many of the multinationals that exploit these raw materials around the world, is frequently embroiled in socio-environmental disasters or vast global networks of illicit financial flows.
From Colombia to Congo, Ukraine or Germany: our traders are bogged down in legal proceedings.
The presentation of the facts, which are most of the time the subject of a court decision, is irrefutable: the curse of natural resources is not a foregone conclusion. It is not an inescapable fate that producing countries should remain trapped in poverty. It was inspired by this conviction that Public Eye conceived, in September 2014, the outline of a regulatory system that would make it possible to plug the legislative loopholes and help break, from Switzerland, the vicious circle of extractivism. Or failing that, it would help mitigate its negative external impact.
To mark the 10th anniversary of ROHMA (our projected supervisory body aimed at regulating the sector), we have compiled a list of some of the most symbolic legal cases that have come to light in recent years. Enough to make a bit more of a fuss about.
More infos
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ROHMA
Ten years ago, we conceived ROHMA (Swiss Commodity Supervisory Authority). This German acronym is used to describe a (still fictitious) supervisory authority for the commodities sector , which is responsible for granting business licences, enforcing due diligence procedures in business relationships, in particular when it comes to agreements with PEPs (politically exposed persons, as well as along the entire value chain. In the event of a repeat offence, this authority would also have the option to withdraw the trading houses’ licences. This authority would play an eminently preventive role in protecting producers, consumers and competitors from illegal practices.
This plan to introduce a “cousin” of FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) was reasonable. It was convincing enough for an estate agency to offer us premises to accommodate its 300 or so employees. Several professionals in the sector applied for a job, and a dozen companies sent us licence application. The years have passed, as have the corruption and money laundering scandals involving Swiss oil or metal multinationals. And there’s still no sign of FINMA’s cousin, nor of any law to regulate this high-risk sector. It is perhaps that therein lies the curse.