This week, a new leak takes us inside Switzerland’s famously secretive financial sector.
According to leaked correspondence obtained by reporters, Swiss regulators have sounded the alarm over a range of practices at the Geneva-headquartered private bank Reyl Intesa Sanpaolo. In particular, the regulators noted a “certain carelessness” when it came to vetting clients for money laundering risks — including those linked to corrupt and autocratic regimes.
The reporting appears to have struck a nerve: On Monday, Reyl’s lawyers confirmed they had filed a complaint under Article 47 of the Swiss Banking Act, a draconian law that criminalizes disclosing information about bank customers. Yet we decided to publish our findings anyway, because we believe they are in the public interest.
In other news, Switzerland’s top court upheld a corruption conviction for Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz, while France moved forward with seizing a villa that belongs to a fugitive former Moldovan politician with a fake Mexican passport.
Meanwhile, Thailand has arrested a woman accused of helping a prominent doctor run a $440-million investment scam that raised funds for non-existent medical centers.
