Credit Suisse Bank Handled 'Dirty Money' For Decades, 'Swissleaks' Investigation Reveals

Credit Suisse rejected the "allegations and insinuations" in a statement saying that many of the issues raised were historical, some dating back as far as the 1940s.

Credit Suisse logo | Getty photo illustration

New Delhi: In the latest cross-border media investigation, it is revealed that Credit Suisse bank held tens of billions of euros of "dirty money" for decades. The investigation is based on a massive data leak from an insider, according to the AFP report.

The investigation has been carried out by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which unites 47 different media outlets worldwide including France's Le Monde and The Guardian in Britain, according to the news agency.

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What are the findings of the investigation?

Dubbed as "SwissLeaks", the latest OCCRP investigation began when data was leaked to Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung newspapers a little over a year ago.

According to the investigation, Credit Suisse had violated international banking rules by holding funds linked to crime and corruption over several decades, wrote Le Monde.

During the investigation, around 90 percent of the accounts reviewed were closed or were in the process of being closed. Also, more than 60 percent of them had been closed before 2015, according to the AFP report.

The sums identified in the leaked accounts amount to more than $100 billion, (88 billion euros), according to Le Monde. Interestingly, they involve mainly developing countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. Only one percent of the accounts concerned clients based in western Europe.

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, was hit by a series of setbacks a year ago. In March 2021, the bank was hit by the collapse of Greensill Capital in which it had committed some $10 billion dollars through four funds. The implosion of the US fund Archegos cost it more than $5 billion.

Bank's Response 

Credit Suisse rejected the "allegations and insinuations" in a statement, saying that many of the issues raised were historical, some dating back as far as the 1940s.

The leak included information on more than 18,000 bank accounts dating back to the 1940s and up to the end of the 2010 decade belonging to 37,000 individuals or companies, said the OCCRP.

The bank said, "Credit Suisse strongly rejects the allegations and insinuations about the bank's purported business practices."