International Investigation Reveals Credit Suisse's Dirty Business
A Credit Suisse bank.
AFP/Archives
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
An investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of 47 media including
Le Monde
, reveals the secrets of dirty money at Credit Suisse.
In short, a veritable world map of international corruption.
Tens of billions of euros of funds of criminal or illicit origin have passed for several decades through this bank, number two in the Swiss banking sector, whose data has been leaked.
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The case concerns 18,000 bank accounts hosted at Credit Suisse between the beginning of the 1940s and the end of the 2010s, specifies the daily
Le Monde
.
"
Based on a massive leak of information from thousands of bank accounts administered by Credit Suisse, (the investigation) shows that in defiance of the rules of vigilance imposed on large international banks, the establishment, born in Zurich, harbored funds linked to crime and corruption for several decades
,” the newspaper writes.
Among the holders of these accounts, the ultra-rich with a sulphurous profile or stuck on international blacklists rub shoulders with anonymous people or personalities with, as a common point, dirty money, the origin of which questions, writes the newspaper.
Alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan, the man in the shadow of the former dictator of Zimbabwe, Billy Rautenbach, accused of having financed the pre-election violence of 2008, or a Siemens executive, who allegedly corrupted civil servants Nigerians.
In total, a nice jackpot of 100 billion Swiss francs (equivalent to 95 billion euros) hidden out of sight.
The documents mainly focus on developing countries: in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.
The bank, whose head office is in Zurich, sweeps aside these accusations, speaks of a case inherited from the past, and maintains that its anti-money laundering controls have been massively reinforced.
Credit Suisse assures that “
90% of the accounts concerned are now closed, more than 60% of which before 2015
”, assures the bank, which also specifies “
conducting the investigation
” concerning the data leak.
►
To read on
Le Monde
:
"Switzerland Secrets", revelations about the dirty money hidden at Credit Suisse
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