BELLINZONA, Switzerland (Reuters) - Switzerland's top criminal court on Friday found Trafigura and a former executive guilty of corruption in a historic case involving payments made to an Angolan official in exchange for oil contracts.

It ordered the trading house to pay close to $150 million in fines and compensation and sentenced Trafigura's former Chief Operating Officer Mike Wainwright to 32 months in prison, of which 12 must be served.

The outcome can be appealed to the same court.

The case was the first time in Switzerland that a company has been charged at its highest court with corrupting a foreign official and a very rare instance globally of a former top executive of a trading firm landing in the dock.

Prosecutors alleged that Trafigura and others paid bribes of more than $5 million via a network of intermediaries to the Angolan official to win oil deals from 2009-2011.

Trafigura has previously said the anti-bribery and anti-corruption controls and the compliance programme in place at the time at its parent company met legal requirements and good practice standards.

Wainwright has rejected all the allegations against him.

Two other defendants, whom Reuters did not name due to restrictions under Swiss privacy rules, were also found guilty. They had denied the charges as well.

During the trial in the southern city of Bellinzona, the court was shown dozens of pages of documents, memos, emails and messages as supporting evidence.

Some involved an ex-Trafigura employee whom the indictment says was nicknamed "Mr. Non-Compliant" by late Trafigura founder Claude Dauphin because he did things forbidden at the group. Dauphin's family says he has been singled out unfairly.

If the sentence is appealed, it will place on hold any prison sentence pending the outcome.