The Swiss public prosecutor’s office has initiated investigations in connection with the takeover of Credit Suisse (CS) by the major bank UBS. “The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has taken note of the media coverage of the events surrounding CS over the past few days and has carried out an assessment of the situation with all internal departments involved,” the authority announced today.
“Analyze and identify” possible criminal offenses
The federal prosecutor stated that they wanted to fulfill their responsibility to “contribute to a clean financial center in Switzerland”. It is about “analyzing and identifying” possible crimes, it said. “In this context, various internal and external bodies were commissioned or contacted with the aim of clarifying and collating information.”
The short-term takeover of the ailing CS by the largest Swiss bank UBS for around three billion Swiss francs was announced on March 19th. According to the Swiss government, this was the best solution to restore lost trust.
The second largest Swiss bank, like UBS, is considered systemically important, but has been shaken by scandals for two years. Among other things, it is said to have enabled money laundering and helped criminals and controversial or corrupt politicians and officials to conduct their business. Enormous losses followed, dwindling trust from customers and investors and finally financing problems.
