ZURICH (Reuters) – A top Swiss judicial authority on Wednesday acquitted Credit Suisse, since bought by UBS, in the case of money laundering by Bulgarian cocaine traffickers, thus overturning a 2022 conviction.
The Federal Criminal Court’s initial ruling, which was the first criminal conviction of a major Swiss bank, convicted a former bank employee of money laundering and Credit Suisse of failing to do enough to prevent a trafficking ring drug dealer to launder his profits between 2004 and 2008.
The heirs of this former employee, who died in April 2023, and Credit Suisse appealed in November.
The appeals court explained in a statement that it was not possible to examine the alleged violation of the penal code without undermining the former employee’s presumption of innocence due to her death.
“For this reason, the bank was acquitted and the compensation claim imposed on it was canceled,” the appeals chamber said.
In 2022, Credit Suisse was fined 2 million Swiss francs (2.15 million euros).
At the time, the court also ordered the confiscation of assets worth more than 12 million francs that the traffickers held in Credit Suisse accounts, asking the bank to pay compensation of more than 19 million of francs, equivalent to the value of the traffickers’ assets which could not be confiscated due to the bank’s shortcomings.
UBS, which bought Credit Suisse in March 2023 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, welcomed the decision, noting that this verdict put an end to the case, subject to an appeal from Swiss federal authorities.
(written by Dave Graham, Bertrand De Meyer, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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