Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws mean that the country’s banks are frequently used by all kinds of individuals who have the means and the need to conceal their wealth, including how and where it was acquired. A Swiss law dating back to 1934, criminalizing the disclosure of customers’ banking information, cemented the nation’s role as a haven for dubious acquired profits. Although Switzerland reluctantly agreed to exchange financial account information with the EU in 2015, a shroud of secrecy still covers fortunes hoarded in the Alps.

A recent leak of around 30,000 private bank Credit Suisse accounts revealed just how much wealth some very influential people have amassed. The whistleblower, who originally shared the documents with German media Suddeutsche Zeitungnoted:

“I think Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral. The pretense of financial privacy is just a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders.”

Named the Swiss Secrets, it is the biggest leak ever from a Swiss bank, and investigators from 39 countries and 46 newsrooms scoured the accounts to expose the web of corruption and crime behind these fortunes.

Many Credit Suisse clients reveal hordes of money from former heads of state accused of embezzling funds from their country’s coffers. So far, the stories of human traffickers, torturers and autocratic dictators using the bank are stark reminders that people in the upper echelons of society are allowed to pursue their actions globally as long as they can pay for Swiss secrecy.

White trails from the Alps to the Balkans

The leak revealed how Italian entrepreneur Antonio Velardo, alongside his business partner, convicted IRA suicide bomber Henry “Harry” Fitzsimons, used Credit Suisse to hide substantial funds from their failed investment in hundreds of apartments in southern Italy. The Italian seaside development, named the Jewel of the Sea, was under construction from 2006 to 2012 and was suspected of being a money laundering front for the Italian criminal organization ‘Ndrangheta. Many investors, including 74 Northern Irish families, were scammed into spending almost £8million on Jewel of the Sea properties, which to this day remain like the shell of a building. An Italian police investigation led to Velardo’s arrest and the seizure of his funds; but the Italian entrepreneur had several accounts at Credit Suisse which stored much of his ill-gotten fortune.

The ‘Ndrangheta criminal network is a key link between South American cocaine and European markets, using legal businesses like large real estate developments to launder money into the legal economy.

Velardo remains a free man, acquitted of money laundering and helping the mafia in 2016. He even has a slick website offering advice on bitcoin and real estate investing. Although the police seized the Jewel of the Sea properties, the money laundering investigation was hampered by Swiss banking secrecy laws, which prevented them from understanding where the money had gone and how much had been won.

Unfortunately for Credit Suisse, the news about banks’ involvement in mafia funds doesn’t stop there. Credit Suisse was also the first major Swiss bank to face criminal charges for its involvement in the laundering of around 141 million euros from cocaine trafficking by the Bulgarian mafia.

In this case, Swiss authorities were suing Credit Suisse for failing to take all necessary measures to prevent money laundering by one of its clients between 2004 and 2008. Strict privacy laws mean that information that would highlight the criminal nature of customers is not disclosed. to other banks, meaning they can continue to operate internationally without a financial record of their actions. In fact, one of the Bulgarian mafia members indicted by Credit Suisse was also charged with drug-related money laundering in Italy in 2017.

Further revelations from Suisse Secrets exposed how Serbian Rodoljub Radulović (known as “Misha Banana” due to his penchant for trafficking cocaine from banana crates) had two accounts under his control at Credit Suisse, managed by offshore companies. Banana opened its first account in 2005 while it had been under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since 2001. This, however, did not raise an alert with Credit Suisse, which then authorized Banana to open another account in 2007.

Banana had used his second account to launder money acquired through his involvement in a major Balkan drug cartel led by Darko Šarić, a Montenegrin drug lord. Both Šarić’s and Banana’s names appeared in Argentine criminal investigation files indicating their involvement in the transatlantic cocaine trade.

Silently serving the ultra-rich

Senior Credit Suisse executives have repeatedly ignored warnings about questionable activity by their clients. Anonymous Credit Suisse employees said it was part of the bank’s corporate culture: “The bank makes a banker look the other way with an account they know is toxic,” said a former senior executive. There are two sets of rules for different types of customers: the rich and the ultra-rich.

“The due diligence of customers and accounts – say at a $1 million level – is very thorough,” said a former senior executive. “But when it comes to high net worth accounts, bosses encourage everyone to look away and managers are intimidated by their bonuses and job security.”

So far, the Swiss Secrets have revealed fewer drug trafficking accounts, and more devious businessmen and embezzlement of public funds from countries in the South. Britain’s HSBC bank tops the list for its support of illegal drug businesses, after admitting it laundered nearly $900 million from the Sinaloa Cartel and other Mexican organized crime groups. US prosecutors fined the bank, further imposing five years of supervised probation where HSBC would have to operate under the supervision of an appointed financial watchdog to prevent further money laundering. An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists showed how the bank continued to provide banking services to suspected criminals and intermediary companies for drug traffickers during his probation.

These revelations will not change much in the operation of Credit Suisse. The bank has been embroiled in scandal after scandal, its response to the leak has been to blatantly deny the evidence and accuse the media of nitpicking the wrong cases from what has come to light. If such a small revelation exposed so many international crimes, we can only begrudge what more news would come out if the activities of the bank’s biggest clients were revealed.

The beauty of such leaks is that the actions of a single person can create international turmoil and shine a light on what a certain class thought could get away with it. As the story progresses, more and more leaked documents will contain stories relevant to the world of drugs. It’s definitely worth checking out OCCRP’s database of news and stories as they come out. It’s a dive into the dark side of global customers who really didn’t want you to know where they got their money and what they do with it.