Oil Trader With ‘History of Misconduct’ Took Years to End Bribes

Around the time Gunvor Group Ltd. was convicted on bribery charges in 2019, Chief Executive Officer Torbjörn Törnqvist touted its relatively new compliance department as evidence that the company had changed.

Gunvor, by then one of the world’s largest oil traders, had operated for more than a decade without a compliance team to monitor its payments or trading partners for signs of illegal or irregular activity. But then it was hit by a Swiss investigation into bribery in the Republic of Congo, and it pledged to turn around.

“We need to take our experience in Congo very seriously and ...