Prateek Gupta, the man accused by Trafigura of masterminding US$590mln nickel fraud, claimed in court that it was traders at the metals group that had devised the scheme.
In a defence filed in London yesterday, lawyers for Prateek Gupta said that Trafigura employees had proposed contracts for the sale of nickel but agreed to trade other material.
Trafigura issued a writ against Gupta in February alleging that his companies had sold it cargoes of nickel worth more than half a billion dollars that contained none of the metal.
A Trafigura spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company “does not consider the defence to be credible and will vigorously continue to pursue its claim”.