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The fact that money laundering is a big problem – states are losing billions in tax revenue as a result, and the poorest suffer the worst – is not new. Panama and Paradisepapers, Luanda Leaks and others: The media has repeatedly made public in recent years how potentates and criminals change their money in a devious way until the origin is no longer evident.
After each revelation, the public and politics are asking for consequences, but apparently not enough has been done. Because 2,100 suspicious transaction reports leaked from the US anti-money laundering agency also confirm the old findings.
Several Swiss banks also participate
And, as always when it comes to international banks, the names of Swiss institutes also appear. Current research focuses on US banks and Deutsche Bank. In several hundred leaked reports, Swiss banks should also be mentioned, from UBS and Credit Suisse to Raiffeisen and Zürcher Kantonalbank and the branches of various foreign banks in Switzerland.
Sure, from the outside, it’s almost impossible to estimate how many of the suspicious transaction reports are really well founded. The threshold for reporting is significantly lower in the US than it is in this country. Many of the leaked reports are also not new and the cases have already been processed.
However, it must be assumed that hundreds of billions of dollars of dirty money are laundered every year and that in many cases even Swiss banks only realize late and report even later that they may have accepted or passed money from dubious sources. .
Council of States does not want the law to be toughened
The accredited expert on money laundering Daniel Thelesklaf, until last summer head of the reporting office responsible for the Federal Police Office, confirmed in the “Tages-Anzeiger” that the local anti-money laundering system was not working in absolute.
The authorities have very few resources and, unlike in many countries, the burden of proof still falls on the banks that accept the money and not on the person bringing the money to Switzerland. All this contradicts the image that the Swiss financial center has of itself.
In the debate on the revision of the Money Laundering Act two weeks ago, a majority in the Council of States praised the Swiss system as exemplary. Hardening, particularly the subordination of attorneys and trustees, was rejected as excessive. It remains to be seen whether the political majorities will change and whether Switzerland, for once, will not decide to toughen this area solely on the basis of external pressure.
Klaus Ammann
Business Editor, SRF
