Swiss Official Resigns In Money Laundering Dispute

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-news.com, Brussels

15 June 2001

In the second such incident in less than a year, a top-ranking government official has resigned from the Swiss financial crime office, which must be something of an embarrassment to Switzerland, which is at present trying to convince the world that it is not a safe haven for money launderers and tax evaders.

Niklaus Huber announced recently that he is stepping down because of disagreements about his role. His decision to leave came just one day after lawmakers had complained to the Swiss parliament that government officials had underestimated the extent of Switzerland's money laundering problem, and had taken insufficient action to combat it.

The Swiss banking industry has been under attack from all quarters of recent years. Last August, the two top officials at the Swiss Action Financial Center's financial crimes office resigned over the government's refusal to put more money and resources into an office which they said was 'overwhelmed', then four officials left the Money Laundering Control Authority, which deals with non-banking financial crime. A damning report written by two French socialist legislators in February suggested that Switzerland was lax in enforcing its existing money laundering laws. And now Mr Huber has tendered his resignation, having told a newspaper last month that he needed as many as 40 more staff members to deal with a backlog of about 500 cases.

Mr Huber was recently involved in controversy over whether the commodities trading company owned by Marc Rich, the exiled billionaire, was required to abide by a money laundering law which was introduced last year. The law covers non-banking institutions and professional roles such as asset managers, fiduciaries, and exchange bureaus, and Mr Huber was outspoken in his view that Mr Rich's company should be covered by the law, as the legislation listed 'raw materials trading', a term which he believed covers those who deal in commodities.

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