Swiss Efforts to Fight Money-Laundering Are a ‘Failure:’ TdG
Swiss Efforts to Fight Money-Laundering Are a ‘Failure’: TdG
(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland’s efforts to combat dirty money constitute a “failure” that haven’t kept pace with the explosion of money-laundering in the financial hub, the country’s former top money-laundering cop told Tribune de Geneve.
At the end of 2019, some 6,000 suspicious activity reports were languishing at the Money-Laundering Reporting Office of Switzerland (MROS) because of understaffing and the fact they continue to be submitted as paper documents not electronically, its former chief Daniel Thelesklaf told the newspaper in an interview.
“We are still stuck in the 19th century technically speaking,” Thelesklaf said.
MROS, is adding analytical resources and overhauling its IT system, Fedpol, the Swiss federal police which oversee MROS, said in a statement.
“To implement that strategy takes time,” Fedpol said. “It’s not something that one can do in just a few months.”
Thelesklaf resigned in June, less than a year after taking the job.
Thelesklaf’s comments came as a new report revealed how hefty fines levied against global banks have largely failed to rein in suspicious financial transactions. A news investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed that banks kept moving illicit funds after receiving warnings from U.S. officials.
In 2015, federal authorities and the governments of Switzerland’s three financial centers in Zurich, Geneva and Ticino confiscated 190 million Swiss francs ($209 million), he said. Swiss banks that year reported 4.8 billion francs in suspicious money, 25 times as much.
Since 2016, he said, the country’s banks have been reporting 12 billion to 17 billion francs in suspect transactions and MROS cannot keep pace, he said. To better fight corruption, anyone bringing in say, 50 million francs into the country must prove that it’s clean, he said.
“When it comes to money-laundering, Switzerland still only does the absolute minimum because of foreign pressure,” he said.
Legislative improvements are being discussed in Swiss parliament, Fedpol said. “In future if the changes pass, MROS will be able to respond to their foreign counterparts even if a suspicious activity report has not been sent.”
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