A top Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted Credit Suisse, now part of UBS, of failing to prevent money laundering Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gangOverturning the conviction in 2022.
The original decision by the Federal Criminal Court was seen as a test case for the prosecution of the banks.
It found a former employee of the bank guilty of money-laundering, and found Credit Suisse guilty of failing to take adequate steps to stop the ring. Making profits through the lender from 2004 to 2008,
The former employee died in April 2023; His heirs and the bank filed an appeal in November.
In a statement, the appeals chamber of the federal court said that, because the woman had died, it was not possible to investigate alleged violations of the Criminal Code without violating the presumption of innocence in her case.
“Therefore, the bank is acquitted and the demand for compensation imposed on it is cancelled,” it said.
Credit Suisse was fined 2 million Swiss francs ($2.3 million) in 2022.
At that time the court also ordered the seizure of more than 12 million francs of assets held by the gang in Credit Suisse accounts, and asked the bank to pay compensation of more than 19 million francs – the value of the gang’s assets that would not have been seized. Could have been done due to shortcomings in the bank
Credit Suisse collapses in March 2023 A series of scandals and failures followed, and UBS took it over.
UBS welcomed the verdict, noting that the case was a legacy case involving Credit Suisse.
“Subject to an appeal by the Swiss Federal Attorney General’s Office, the verdict brings this legal issue to a close,” UBS said in a statement.
The Attorney General’s Office said it would analyze the findings and then decide on appropriate action. ($1 = 0.8832 Swiss francs)
