Leaked information from the Swiss bank Credit Suisse reveals the details of wealthy clients “involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and other serious crimes,” writes The Guardian on February 20.
The publication clarifies that it gained access to the bank’s data as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Details of accounts linked to 30,000 Credit Suisse customers worldwide are contained in a leak that exposes the beneficiaries of more than 100 billion Swiss francs (£80 billion) held at one of Switzerland’s most prominent financial institutions.
A huge array of banking data was given to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by an anonymous informant. “I believe Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral,” the source said in a statement. “The pretext of protecting financial privacy is just a fig leaf to cover up the shameful role of Swiss banks as accomplices of tax evaders.”
Among these 30 thousand accounts, about a thousand belong to Ukrainian beneficiaries, the list of secret owners includes persons from Venezuela, Egypt, Thailand, Sweden, Germany, and so on. It is clarified that the majority of account holders come from “developing countries”.
The project is called “Suisse secrets” (“Secrets of Suisse”). Its purpose, according to the publication, is to shed light on one of the world’s largest financial centers, accustomed to working in the shadows. It, according to the publication, allows you to point to corrupt officials and money launderers who were able to open bank accounts or maintain these accounts for many years after their crimes became known. This shows how Switzerland’s famous bank secrecy laws have contributed to the looting of the developing world.
Jeff Neumann, the Florida lawyer who was involved in the Credit Suisse exposé, believes the bank’s sheer number of scandals points to a deeper problem. “The bank likes to say that they are just fraudulent bankers. But how many fraudulent bankers do you need to have before your bank goes fraudulent?” Neumann asks. The lawyer claims there is a culture at the bank “that encourages its bankers, probably from the top down, to hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, bury their head in the sand on a good day, and actively help people for many days.” circumvent any law in order to best protect the assets under management.”
Such allegations are strongly denied by Credit Suisse. “In line with financial reforms in the sector and in Switzerland, Credit Suisse has taken a number of significant additional measures over the past decade, including significant additional investment in the fight against financial crime,” the bank said in a statement.
