For years, the world’s largest oil trading firm has argued that it is “absolutely intolerant” of corruption. Now Vitol Inc. admitted that he paid bribes through a network of shell companies, writes Bloomberg .
By agreeing to pay just over $ 160 million to US and Brazilian regulators, Vitol said it had paid bribes to government officials for over a decade, between 2005 and 2020. The oil trader made confessions in exchange for a deferred prosecution.
Between 2005 and 2014, the company paid more than $ 8 million in bribes to Petrobras executives. In return, the officials of the Brazilian oil company provided Vitol with valuable information on their tenders, including the highest bid price from competitors. The US and Brazilian authorities are also currently investigating competitors Vitol, Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group Ltd. on suspicion of similar crimes.
Earlier it became known that Vitol decided to bet on used cars, the company plans to sell them in Turkey and Pakistan. This startup is an example of how the world’s largest energy traders are trying to diversify their business, experts say.