Revealed: Credit Suisse Leak Unmasks Criminals, Fraudsters and Corrupt Politicians

Composite: Doug Chayka
THE GUARDIAN: Massive leak reveals secret owners of £80bn held in Swiss bank / Whistleblower leaked bank’s data to expose ‘immoral’ secrecy laws / Clients included human trafficker and billionaire who ordered girlfriend’s murder / Vatican-owned account used to spend €350m in allegedly fraudulent investment / Scandal-hit Credit Suisse rejects allegations it may be ‘rogue bank’

A massive leak from one of the world’s biggest private banks, Credit Suisse, has exposed the hidden wealth of clients involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and other serious crimes.

Details of accounts linked to 30,000 Credit Suisse clients all over the world are contained in the leak, which unmasks the beneficiaries of more than 100bn Swiss francs (£80bn)* held in one of Switzerland’s best-known financial institutions.

The leak points to widespread failures of due diligence by Credit Suisse, despite repeated pledges over decades to weed out dubious clients and illicit funds. The Guardian is part of a consortium of media outlets given exclusive access to the data.

We can reveal how Credit Suisse repeatedly either opened or maintained bank accounts for a panoramic array of high-risk clients across the world.

They include a human trafficker in the Philippines, a Hong Kong stock exchange boss jailed for bribery, a billionaire who ordered the murder of his Lebanese pop star girlfriend and executives who looted Venezuela’s state oil company, as well as corrupt politicians from Egypt to Ukraine.

One Vatican-owned account in the data was used to spend €350m (£290m) in an allegedly fraudulent investment in London property that is at the centre of an ongoing criminal trial of several defendants, including a cardinal. » | David Pegg, Kalyeena Makortoff, Martin Chulov, Paul Lewis and Luke Harding | Sunday, February 20, 2022

Datenleck bei der Credit Suisse: Die Bank soll über Jahre korrupte Politiker und Kriminelle als Kunden akzeptiert haben: Der Credit Suisse bleibt derzeit nichts erspart. Am Sonntag hat ihr ein internationales Journalistennetzwerk vorgeworfen, sie habe über viele Jahre korrupte Autokraten, Kriegsverbrecher und andere Kriminelle als Kunden akzeptiert. »

« Suisse Secrets », révélations sur l’argent sale caché au Credit Suisse : ENQUÊTE Dictateurs, réseaux criminels, espions : « Le Monde » et quarante-sept médias ont eu accès à des informations issues de milliers de comptes, montrant que le fleuron bancaire suisse a hébergé des milliards pour le compte de clients sulfureux. »

Vast Leak Exposes How Credit Suisse Served Strongmen and Spies: Leaked data on more than 18,000 accounts shows that the Swiss bank missed or ignored red flags. »

Credit Suisse denies wrongdoing after big banking data leak: Credit Suisse has hit out after a massive data leak has brought to light the hidden wealth of several clients of the bank. »

Crédit Suisse mis en cause par une massive fuite de données : L'établissement financier est accusé d'avoir hébergé plusieurs milliards d'euros liés au crime et à la corruption. »

Ukraine Crisis: Corruption Alert over Russians with £1.5bn of British Property

Igor Shuvalov has two properties in Whitehall Court through a Russian business he co-owns with his wife | ALAMY
THE TIMES: UK property worth £1.5 billion was bought by Russians with links to the Kremlin or accused of corruption, according to newly released figures.

Nearly £430 million of the property is in Westminster in London, and more than half is held by companies in Britain’s overseas territories and crown dependencies.

Transparency International, the campaign group that unearthed the figures, said the findings exposed how Britain had become a “global hub for money laundering”. It identified 2,189 companies registered in the UK, Britain’s overseas territories and crown dependencies that have been used in 48 Russian money-laundering and corruption cases.

In total, these cases involved funds worth more than £82 billion diverted from “rigged” procurement, bribery, embezzlement and the unlawful acquisition of state assets, Transparency International said. » | Matt Dathan, Home Affairs Editor | Friday, February 18, 2-22

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MP Warns of Financial Corruption in UK Escaping ‘Toothless’ Enforcers

THE GUARDIAN: Economic crime needs to ‘be taken seriously’ alongside tougher anti-money laundering levy, says Hodge

The Pandora Papers leak shows that the UK is in danger of becoming a corrupt country because it is failing to take economic crime seriously enough, the former chair of the public accounts watchdog told MPs, as she called for more funding for financial crime enforcers.

Dame Margaret Hodge, a senior Labour MP, raised the issue in the Commons as part of a debate on the finance bill, highlighting the central role of London in facilitating economic crime.

She said the Pandora Papers, leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with media around the world including the Guardian, comprised “the largest cache of documents we have ever received” in relation to tax havens.

“The UK lies at the heart of everything revealed there,” she said. “Others have talked about secret property transactions that took place – £4bn identified in the Pandora Papers. There are more UK citizens cited in that tranche of leaks than from any other country. The relationship between the UK and our tax havens is central to the facilitation of economic crime, and again we see the weak and toothless enforcement agencies.” » | Rowena Mason, Deputy political editor | Thursday, December 2, 2021

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THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: Boris Johnson’s reluctance to come clean about donors that get to meet him may be explained by the contents of the Pandora papers

Boris Johnson. ‘The perception will be that there is one rule for this government and its friends and another for the rest of us’. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty
Boris Johnson’s government has displayed a penchant for ignoring standards of openness, attacking key democratic institutions and subverting governance norms. Mr Johnson revels in thumbing his nose at convention. Last December he outrageously used his privilege as prime minister to ennoble a Conservative party donor who had been rejected by the Lords appointments commission. But repeat offending raises questions over whether such insouciance is meant to distract from allegations of sleaze.

This new model of party business seems to have coincided with the arrival of Ben Elliot as co-chair of the Conservative party. He raised a record £37m for the Tories’ 2019 general election campaign. The party is now refusing to publish the membership of secretive clubs for donors giving up to £250,000 a year that hold regular meetings with Mr Johnson and his chancellor. That reluctance may be explained by this week’s revelations in the Pandora papers. The documents shed new light on the use by some donors of offshore finance and how it lubricates capitalism in hydrocarbon-rich autocracies. Mr Johnson’s claim that donations were vetted “in the normal way” suggests the Conservatives aren’t that bothered about where their money comes from. » | Editorial | Friday, October 8, 2021

Autriche : le chancelier Sebastian Kurz visé par une enquête pour corruption

Sebastian Kurz a récemment été critiqué pour ses velléités de contrôle des médias nationaux. LEONHARD FOEGER / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : «Neuf autres suspects, ainsi que trois organisations» sont aussi concernés pour diverses infractions de corruption liées à cette affaire, a annoncé le parquet dans un communiqué.

Le chancelier autrichien Sebastian Kurz, visé par une enquête, est soupçonné d'avoir utilisé des fonds gouvernementaux pour s'assurer une couverture médiatique favorable, a annoncé le parquet mercredi 6 octobre. «Sebastian Kurz et neuf autres suspects, ainsi que trois organisations» font l'objet d'une enquête pour diverses infractions de corruption liées à cette affaire, a précisé le parquet dans un communiqué, après une série de perquisitions. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | mercredi 5 octobre 2021

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Brazilians Take to Streets to Demand Removal of Jair Bolsonaro

THE GUARDIAN: Calls for president’s impeachment grow amid claims government sought to profit from Covid jabs

Huge crowds of protesters have returned to the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities to demand the removal of a president they blame for more than half a million coronavirus deaths.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of Rio de Janeiro on Saturday morning as calls for Jair Bolsonaro’s impeachment intensified after allegations that members of his government had sought to illegally profit from the purchase of Covid vaccines.

“The people have awoken,” said Benedita da Silva, a 79-year-old congresswoman and veteran of the Brazilian left, as she joined the rally.

“I’m here because we absolutely have to get this monster out of power and reclaim Brazil,” said Magda Souza, a 64-year-old dissenter, as she marched through downtown Rio with her husband, José Baptisa. “We’re surrounded by barbarism,” Souza added as a police helicopter circled over the throng. » | Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro | Saturday, July 3, 2021

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Spain’s Juan Carlos Makes a Big Tax Payment amid New Financial Probe

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The former king of Spain paid about $820,000, his lawyer said. He did not say why, but the news came amid the latest investigation into possible financial wrongdoing by Juan Carlos.

MADRID — King Juan Carlos, Spain’s former monarch, has paid about $820,000 in back taxes, his lawyer said on Wednesday, amid an investigation by prosecutors into whether he and other members of the royal family used bank accounts in other people’s names to hide assets from the tax authorities[.]

The king’s lawyer, Javier Sánchez-Junco Mans, did not say why or when Juan Carlos had made the payment. But the announcement came just a month after Spanish media revealed an investigation into possible tax evasion and money laundering based on the former king and his relatives using those bank accounts to pay their credit card charges.

The anticorruption prosecutor’s office has confirmed the existence of a new case involving the king, but has not elaborated. He was already the subject of another investigation by the same office. » | Raphael Minder | Wednesday, December 9, 2020

The UK Is One of the Most Corrupt Nations on Earth

THE GUARDIAN: Fortunes are being made by political favourites, while Brexit could cement London’s reputation for money laundering

Fear, shame, embarrassment: these brakes no longer apply. The government has discovered that it can bluster through any scandal. No minister need resign. No one need apologise. No one need explain.

As public outrage grows over the billions of pounds of coronavirus contracts issued by the government without competition, it seems determined only to award more of them. Never mind that the consulting company Deloitte, whose personnel circulate in and out of government, has been strongly criticised for the disastrous system it devised to supply protective equipment to the NHS. It has now been granted a massive new contract to test the population for Covid-19. » | George Monbiot | Thursday, September 10, 2020

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Spain's former king Juan Carlos has left the country amid allegations of corruption. There are reports he is in the Dominican Republic, though no official announcement has been made. Prosecutors have long been investigating Juan Carlos. The longtime monarch is facing accusations he took a kickback from Saudi Arabia when Spanish companies won a contract to build a railway between Mecca and Medina. The King's former lover - Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein - is suspected to have received the bribe money.

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Spain's former king Juan Carlos has left the country as criminal prosecutors investigate allegations of corruption. He has been accused of receiving a $100m gift from the late Saudi king for backing a high-speed rail contract. The move has reignited debate about the role of the monarchy in Spain.

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Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman Guilty of Corrupt and Illegal Practices over Election

Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Election Commissioner declares east mayoral election result 'void' after Britain's first elected Muslim mayor found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices over 2014 vote

The election of controversial Tower Hamlets mayor has been declared void after he was found guilty of corruption and illegal practices by an Election Court judge.

Lutfur Rahman played "race" and "religious" cards and was guilty of "corrupt practice", Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey, who sat as a judge in the High Court, said.

He described an “alarming state of affairs in Tower Hamlets” driven by the “ruthless ambition of one man”.

Mr Mawrey said Rahman had "driven a coach and horses" through local authority law and had been an “evasive winess [sic]”..

The May 2014 mayoral election will now be re-run and Rahman is barred from standing, the judge said.

Rahman, Britain’s first elected Muslim mayor, was also ordered to pay £250,000 costs. » | Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | Thursday, April 23, 2015

Nicolas Sarkozy: Allegations against Me are Grotesque, and the Judges Are Biased

Nicolas Sarkozy, centre, is brought in by police for questioning
on Tuesday by a judge investigating allegations of corruption.

THE GUARDIAN: Former French president defends himself after being put under formal investigation for alleged corruption case

To the French right it was political persecution and a plot to undermine Nicolas Sarkozy's eventual return to power. To the left it was the country's justice system doing its job and showing that no man – not even a powerful former president – is above the law.

But on Wednesday night it was Sarkozy's turn to speak after a day in which he was put under formal investigation for allegations of corruption, trafficking influence and receiving information violating professional secrecy.

The move came more than 15 hours after he was first summoned to a police station on the outskirts of Paris and told he was being held in custody – a first for a former president in modern France.

Three others, Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog and two magistrates, have also been put under investigation in the case. All deny any wrongdoing.

On Wednesday night, Sarkozy appeared on television for the first time since leaving the Elysée Palace in 2012 to claim the justice system was being used as a "political instrument" against him and to lash out at the magistrates and France's Socialist government.

"In our country, the country of human rights and the right of law, there are things that are being organised … everything is being done to give an image of me that is not the truth. To all those watching and listening, I want to say that I have never betrayed their confidence. I have never committed an act against republican principles or the law," he said.

Wearing a sombre suit and tie, the former president looked tanned and clean-shaven – recent photos showed him with fashionable stubble – and came out fighting, describing the accusations as "grotesque", and accusing the judges of being politically biased and determined to humiliate and destroy him. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Wednesday, July 02, 2014