[ad_1]
In FIFA’s money laundering and corruption case with the United States, they would likely soon agree to a double-digit fine per million, Julius Baer reported yesterday.
Some of the events occurred in the time of Boris Collardi. But this seems to get away with it without personal punishment.
This can be seen in a response from the Zurich prosecutor’s office. There has been no “reportable news” on the matter since the last report.
In the summer, this had said that the criminal authorities would carry out a preliminary investigation after receiving the criminal charges against Collardi and other current or former Bär bosses.
Two months have passed since then and investigators appear to have taken no further action. With that, Collardi seems to have gotten out of trouble.
At least criminally. The notifications were issued following Finma’s ruling against Bank Bär in FIFA and Venezuela.
In February, the Berne authorities took the private bank to court, hired a guardian, and banned it from taking on big business. He announced at that time that “in a second step (to) examine whether proceedings would be opened against individuals.”
Who are the real responsible? Collardi, said the filing cabinets of the criminal complaints, in him they saw the central figure for the serious lack of money laundering and corruption in the control of clients.
Collardi was CEO of Julius Baer from 2009 until the end of 2017. In late 2017, he moved to the noble Geneva-based Pictet bank to become one of the few high-ranking partners there.
Following the Finma report and the criminal charges, the pressure increased. Collardi brought in renowned lawyers with Peter Nobel and a criminal defense attorney.
Nobel stressed that the attacks on Collardi were unfair. The media shot their customers because of the ads; but anyone can show up.
The Finma report is decisive, it is not public.
Collardi received flank protection from Pictet. His main partner said in an interview that the bank and its owners have confidence in their new colleagues.
“We fully support Boris Collardi, that applies to all managing partners, and I think I can also speak on behalf of the bank employees,” said Renaud from NZZ Plant on Sunday in mid-July.
When asked by journalists what would happen to Collardi if the banking supervisory authority no longer certifies that Bär officials are responsible for clean banking, De Planta stressed that he and his Pictet colleagues would “assess the facts if we know them.”
If neither the Zurich judiciary nor the Bernese Finma Collardi addresses the issue, then the question arises as to who is responsible for the risk and compliance violations at Julius Baer.
Under Collardi, his deputy director and risk manager Bernhard Hodler was at the center of the helm for a long time. For many years he headed the entire risk and compliance area at Julius Baer.
Hodler assumed operational control of Collardi when it jumped overboard with a crash 3 years ago. Instead of staying for several years as planned, Hodler already resigned in 2019, after less than 2 years.
The new strongman in the Bär risk area, Oliver Bartholet, quickly switched to the highest bosses in his area. Both the chief compliance officer, Roman Baumgartner, and his money laundering officer, Martin Eichmann, have left.
