Suisse secrets was a February 2022 leak of details of more than CHF 100 billion (roughly US$108.5bn, €95.5bn or £80bn) held in nominee accounts linked to over 30,000 clients of

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

, the largest ever leak from a major Swiss bank.

Background

On 20 February 2022, the ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

'' reported that "over a year ago" it had received secret data through a secure digital mailbox on more than 30,000

bank customers and their more than 18,000 accounts, which provide insights into the inner workings of the banking giant. The data was evaluated by 48 media companies from all over the world, among them the

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...

, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

''. Swiss news organisations did not participate in the investigation because a Swiss law concerning bank secrecy forbids the publication of banking secrets. The data covers accounts and transactions from the 1940s up to 2010.

Statement of the source

The data were leaked anonymously by a person or group, who wrote in an accompanying statement, that they felt Swiss banking secrecy laws were "immoral", that "Swiss banks .. erecollaborators of tax evaders", because "a significant number of these accounts were opened with the sole purpose of hiding their holder's wealth from fiscal institutions and/or avoiding the payment of taxes on capital gains". They opined that

Common Reporting Standard The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is an information standard for the Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) regarding financial accounts on a global level, between tax authorities, which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develo ...

s were a step in the right direction, but imposed "a disproportionate financial and infrastructural burden on developing nations", which "enables corruption and starves developing countries of much-needed tax revenue". The source stated that "responsibility for this state of affairs does not lie with Swiss banks but rather with the Swiss legal system".

Notable people named

As a result of the leak, numerous people allegedly involved in crimes ranging from corruption and bribery to drug and human trafficking became known as Credit Suisse clients. *

King Abdullah II of Jordan Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...

and

Queen Rania of Jordan Rania Al-Abdullah ( ar, رانيا العبد الله, ; born Rania Al-Yassin, 31 August 1970) is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Rania was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. She received her bachelor's degree in busi ...

* Aliaksei Aleksin, Belarusian businessman blacklisted by the EU and USA, close associate of

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука� ...

* Hashim Jawan Bakht, Pakistani politician *

Haji Saifullah Khan Bangash Haji Saifullah Khan Bangash ( ur, ) was a Pakistani politician who has been a member of Senate of Pakistan, from March 2012 to February 2018. Education He received Matriculation level education from Government High School, Kohat in 1970. Polit ...

, Pakistani politician *

Louis Alphonse de Bourbon Louis Alphonse de BourbonHis name is given as "Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon and Martínez-Bordiú, Duke of Anjou" by Olga S. Opfell in ''Royalty who Wait: The 21 Heads of Formerly Regnant Houses of Europe'' (2001), p. 11. ( es, Luis Alfonso ...

, Spanish-French aristocrat, and his wife Margarita Vargas *

Anas el-Fiqqi Anas el-Fiqqi (alternate spelling: Anas El Feki, Anas El-Feki, Anas Al-Faki, Anas al-Fiqi, Anas El-Fekky or el-Fiqi) is an Egyptian politician. Anas el-Fiqq became minister of youth in Egypt before switching places with Mamdouh El-Beltagui to be ...

, Egypt, former Minister of Information * Ivan Guta, Ukrainian agricultural baron *

Abdul Halim Khaddam Abdul Halim Khaddam ( ; ar, عبد الحليم خدام; 15 September 1932 – 31 March 2020) was a Syrian politician who was Vice President of Syria and "High Commissioner" to Lebanon from 1984 to 2005. He was long known as a loyalist of Hafez ...

, Syrian politician *

Zahid Ali Akbar Khan Lieutenant General Zahid Ali Akbar ( ur, ; b. 1933) , is a former engineering officer in the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers, who oversaw the civil construction of the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi, and later directing the Engineering Research La ...

, Pakistani general and engineering officer *

Waqar Ahmed Khan Waqar Ahmed Khan (born July 20, 1963 in Dera Ismail Khan) is a Pakistani politician and businessman. He has been a member of the honorable Senate of Pakistan for 21 years. Waqar was elected to the Senate of Pakistan for the first time in 1994 as t ...

, Pakistani politician * Sultan Ali Lakhani, Pakistani businessman *

Luis Carlos de León Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

, former financial director of La

Electricidad de Caracas Electricidad de Caracas ( BVCEDC is the integrated electricity company for Caracas, Venezuela and surrounding areas, with more than 1 million connections. It was acquired by AES Corporation in 2000 and sold to the state-owned oil company PDVSA ...

, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil firm

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...

Pavlo Lazarenko Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko ( uk, Павло Іванович Лазаренко; born 23 January 1953) is a Ukrainian former politician, convicted criminal, and international fugitive who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997. Bo ...

, former

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine ( uk, Прем'єр-міністр України, ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of th ...

Ronald Li Ronald Li Fook-shiu (; 10 February 1929 – 27 December 2014) was the founder and former chairman of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and died of cancer. Li was arrested twice by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in December 1987 ...

, founder of the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

, former

President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictator ...

, former

First Lady of the Philippines The first lady or first gentleman of the Philippines ( fil, Unang Ginang o Unang Ginoó ng Pilipinas) is the courtesy title given to the host or hostess of Malacañang Palace, the residence of the head of state and head of government of the Phil ...

* Hisham Talaat Moustafa, Egyptian real estate magnate *

Gamal Mubarak Gamal Al Din Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak ( ar, جمال الدين محمد حسنى سيد مبارك, ; born 27 December 1963) is the younger of the two sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. ...

and

Alaa Mubarak Alaa Mohammed Hosni El Sayed Mubarak ( ar, علاء محمد حسني السيد مبارك; ) (born 26 November 1960 in Cairo) is an Egyptian businessman and the elder of two sons of Hosni Mubarak, the former President of Egypt who serve ...

, sons of former

President of Egypt The president of Egypt is the executive head of state of Egypt and the de facto appointer of the official head of government under the Egyptian Constitution of 2014. Under the various iterations of the Constitution of Egypt following the Egyp ...

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

Sa'ad Khair Sa'ad Khair was a Jordanian Intelligence and Security official. Career Between 2000 and 2005, Sa'ad Khair was the head of the newly formed Jordanian National Security Agency,King Abdullah II of Jordan, '' Our Last Best Chance'', New York, New ...

, Jordanian intelligence chief *

Rana Mubashir Rana Mubashir is a Pakistani television news journalist, talk show host and analyst who is known for his Current affairs (news format), current affairs show 'Aaj Rana Mubashir Kay Sath'.

, Pakistani journalist *

Khaled Nezzar Major-General Khaled Nezzar ( ar, خالد نزّار; born 25 December 1937) is an Algerian general and former member of the High Council of State of Algeria. He was born in the ''douar'' of Thlet, in Seriana in the Batna region. His father, ...

, General and former Defense Minister of Algeria *

Akhtar Abdur Rahman Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan NI(M), HI(M), TI(M), SBt (Urdu: اختر عبد الرحمن‎; 11 June 1924 – 17 August 1988), was a Pakistani senior army general who served as the 5th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan ...

, former

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) ( ur, ) is, in principle, the highest-ranking and senior most uniformed military officer, typically at four-star rank, in the Pakistan Armed Forces who serves as a Principal Staff Officer an ...

of Pakistan *

Billy Rautenbach Muller Conrad "Billy" Rautenbach (born 23 September 1959) is a Zimbabwean business magnate, whose more than 150 ventures have included companies involved in transport, cobalt and platinum mining, and biofuel production, primarily in Africa. Th ...

, Zimbabwean businessman * Qosim Rohbar, former governor of Sughd and former Minister of Agriculture of Tajikistan * Rodoljub Radulović, Serbian drug lord * Hussein Salem, Egyptian businessman and advisor to

Armen Sarkissian Armen Vardani Sarkissian ( hy, Արմեն Վարդանի Սարգսյան; also written as Sarksyan and Sargsyan) (born 23 June 1952) is an Armenian politician, physicist and computer scientist who served as the 4th president of Armenia from 9 A ...

, former

President of Armenia The president of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Նախագահ, Hayastani Nakhagah) is the head of state and the guarantor of independence and territorial integrity of Armenia elected to a single seven-year term by the National Assembly of Arme ...

* Eduard Seidel, German businessman *

Álvaro Sobrinho Álvaro de Oliveira Madaleno Sobrinho (born 1962) is an Angolan banker and businessman. Early life and education Career After ten years with Grupo Banco Espírito Santo, Sobrinho became one of the youngest ever directors of Banco Espírito S ...

, Angolan businessman *

James Soong James Soong Chu-yu (born 16 March 1942) is a Taiwanese politician. He is the founder and current Chairman of the People First Party. Born to a Kuomintang military family of Hunanese origin, Soong began his political career as a secretary to ...

, Taiwanese politician implicated in the

Taiwan frigate scandal The Taiwan frigate scandal, or the Lafayette scandal, was a political scandal in Taiwan and France. History In 1998, former French foreign minister Roland Dumas alleged that a US$500 million commission was paid by Thomson-CSF (now Thales) to Fr ...

* Omar Suleiman, former Vice-President of Egypt and former head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate *

Nadezhda Tokayeva Nadezhda Davydovna Tokayeva ( he, נאדז'דה טוקאיבה; kk, Надежда Давыдқызы Токаева, Nadejda Davydqyzy Tokaeva; born 27 September 1957) is a Kazakh public figure, who was the First Lady of Kazakhstan from 2019 t ...

, former first lady of Kazakhstan *

Vasif Talibov Vasif Talibov ( az, Vasif Yusif oğlu Talıbov; born 14 January 1960) is the former chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, a deputy of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a member of the Board of Di ...

, de facto leader of the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan * Antonio Velardo, money launderer for two families of the Calabrian

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and secret society, criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of ...

* Nervis Villalobos, Venezuelan energy minister under

Hugo Chavez Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...

, part of massive bribery scheme *

Bruno Wang The Taiwan frigate scandal, or the Lafayette scandal, was a political scandal in Taiwan and France. History In 1998, former French foreign minister Roland Dumas alleged that a US$500 million commission was paid by Thomson-CSF (now Thales) to F ...

, Taiwanese fugitive implicated in the Taiwan frigate scandal

Reactions

On February 20, 2022, Credit Suisse said it "strongly reject d allegations of wrongdoing. Credit Suisse alleged it is "a coup against the Swiss banking industry" as a whole without saying who might be behind it. On March 2, 2022, it became known that its investors had been asked to destroy documents linked to yacht loans of oligarchs. In February 2022, the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

proposed reviewing Swiss banking practices and money laundering status in response to the leaks, asking the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

to reclassify Switzerland as a high-risk country for financial crime. Liam Proud wrote in Reuters, "stability and unimpeachable competence ..seem to be lacking at Credit Suisse". Since leaking financial data is a criminal offense in Switzerland (even if it is in the public interest) punishable with up to five years in jail, Swiss media argued in February 2022 that the banking secrecy law runs contrary to

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

and

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

in some cases.

References

External links

{{Credit Suisse 2022 scandals Data journalism Investigative journalism 2022 documents Data breaches Credit Suisse

Background

Statement of the source

Notable people named

Reactions

See also

References

External links