In 2021, two former executives of Swedish oil company Lundin were indicted for aiding and abetting war crimes committed by the government of Sudan during the civil war in the south of the country. The criminal trial of Chairman Ian Lundin and CEO Alexandre Schneiter started in September 2023 and is scheduled to end in 2026.

The Swedish investigation was triggered in 2010 by a report prepared by the Dutch civil society organisation PAX, which documented a link between oil exploration and increasing violence in the war-torn south. The report and subsequent documentation established that between 1997 and 2003, crimes were committed including killings, rape, child abduction, torture, pillage, arson, destruction of schools, markets and clinics were destroyed. An estimated 12,000 people died and 180,000 were forcibly displaced.

At trial, prosecutors have alleged that the defendants provided logistical support to the government of Sudan forces, such as roads and landing strips, and that they closely coordinated security operations to ensure access to oil exploration areas.

Sources:

Trial Reports - the Lundin Case, Civil Rights Defenders

Lundin War Crimes Trial Podcast

Unpaid Debt, PAX, case summaries and resources

Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, 2003

In 2020, French authorities launched an investigation into BNP Paris in connection with its alleged role in providing financial services to the government of Sudan. The investigation was launched in response to a complaint filed by victims of crimes committed by the government of Sudan between 2002 - 2008. In 2024, the investigation was reported to be ongoing .

BNP Paribas has declined to comment on the ongoing investigations.

In a 2014 plea deal with US authorities BNP Paribas plead guilty to charges it violated US sanctions by providing financial services to Sudan, Cuba and Iran. Charges in the sanctions case included that BNPP used a system of proxy banks “to process approximately $6.4 billion on behalf of Sudanese sanctioned entities”. As part of the plea deal BNP Paribas admitted the bank had acted for the Sudanese government during the period 2002-2008. BNP Paribas was required to pay a USD $8.9 billion penalty.

In 2024, a US judge ordered a separate law suit to proceed.

The criminal complaint filed in France by victims, with the support of FIDH, alleged that “by providing the Sudanese government with credit facilities, allowing the government to export petrol and access foreign money markets…the bank facilitated the commission of human rights violations amounting to international crimes by the Sudanese government.”(FIDH)

The crime base upon which the complain is based consists of allegations that “the government – through its military and security forces and Janjaweed militias – committed widespread human rights violations amounting to international crimes (including torture, crimes against humanity and genocide) against Sudanese civilians…tens of thousands of Sudanese activists and ordinary civilians were killed, forcibly displaced from their homes, detained, tortured and subjected to inhumane treatment or raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence.” (FIDH)

Sources

BNP Paribas Agrees to Plead Guilty and to Pay $8.9 Billion for Illegally Processing Financial Transactions for Countries Subject to U.S. Economic Sanctions, US Department of Justice, 30 June 2014

Judicial Investigation Opened into BNP Paribas’ Role in Atrocities in Sudan, FIDH, 11 October 2020

“9 victimes soudanaises portent plainte contre BNP Paribas pour complicité de crimes contre l’humanité”, FIDH 26 September 2019