Foreign investigative journalists are avoiding Switzerland, fearing legal consequences under the country’s strict banking secrecy laws. Writing about bank data from whistleblowers remains a criminal offence in Switzerland.
“Journalists can be prosecuted if they publish data they received about a person who violated banking secrecy,” the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) confirmed to the Tages-Anzeiger.
In 2022, over 100 journalists – including reporters from Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Guardian, Le Monde and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) – published articles from investigations into sensitive Credit Suisse client accounts. The various articles exposed, among other things, Credit Suisse accounts held by former Egyptian intelligence chiefs accused of torture and human rights violations, writes the Tages-Anzeiger.
One of the journalists, Cecilia Anesi from the Italian Center for Investigative Reporting (IRPI), declined an invitation to lecture in Lugano after being “advised not to visit Switzerland” due to her reporting. She’s not alone: Antonio Baquero of OCCRP and German journalist Frederik Obermaier also say they now avoid Switzerland – even refusing flights with stopovers in Zurich.
In December 2022, the Swiss federal government authorised the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland to investigate potential violations of banking secrecy in the Credit Suisse case. The whistleblower who leaked the data is still being sought.
After the data leak, questions were raised about whether the legislation on banking secrecy violates the freedom of the press. In February 2023, Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter acknowledged the issue: “The Federal Council recognises the importance of constitutionally guaranteed media freedom and is prepared to conduct the requested review.”