Swiss Prosecutor Opens Criminal Probe Into Geneva Oil Traders

(Bloomberg) -- Geneva’s public prosecutor has opened a criminal probe targeting top executives at an oil trading company suspected of bribing foreign officials and money laundering, as part of a scandal involving Venezuelan oil deals.

A spokesman for the prosecutor confirmed the investigation in a statement but declined to name the officials targeted or the name of their firm.

Prosecutors arrested two executives at oil trading company Helsinge in Geneva, the Associated Press reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Helsinge didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment outside of office hours.

Helsinge is at the center of allegations made in a U.S. lawsuit outlining an elaborate scheme to defraud Venezuela’s national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, by way of inside information allegedly obtained from PDVSA employees through bribes and other methods.

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