Autocrats, despots, drug dealers, terrorist financiers, money launderers or human traffickers – there are a whole range of people who have no interest in establishing their wealth or giving law enforcement authorities insight into where their money is invested. Such people, the international research “Suisse Secrets” suggested a good year ago, were apparently among the customers of the major Swiss bank Credit Suisse for decades. According to media reports, the Swiss federal prosecutor’s office has now started investigations – not against the bank that is said to have managed such money, but against the unknown person whose data triggered the global headlines.
The information about around 18,000 Credit Suisse accounts was the Süddeutsche Zeitung been leaked to them with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and 46 media partners from all over the world, in Germany NDR and WDR were involved in the research. The bank said it adheres to “the highest standards of conduct” and “complies with applicable global and local laws and regulations in conducting its business”.
The law is controversial
Now the federal prosecutor has, according to the Zurich daily indicator confirms that it has initiated preliminary proceedings against the unknown whistleblower. The accusation: violation of banking and business secrets and “economic intelligence service”, that is, secret information was made accessible to third parties.
The strict Swiss banking secrecy not only stipulates that anyone who withdraws data from a bank is liable to prosecution, but also whoever disseminates this data – such as journalists. The law, which according to the United Nations criminalizes journalism and violates the human rights convention, is to be reviewed by the Swiss Federal Council. The federal prosecutor’s office did not respond to a request from the SZ on Sunday.