Did Swiss banks help Nazis launder loot?
September 18, 1996 Web posted at: 7:15 p.m. EDT BERN, Switzerland (CNN) — Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Wednesday said his country will reexamine a mystery a half century old: the fate of gold stashed by Nazi Germany during World War II. “We are trying to look for a clear definition of the facts, making them as clear as possible, although they lie now 50 years behind us,” said Flavio Cotti, Swiss Foreign Minister. The announcement, in conjunction with British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, comes amid new allegations that Swiss banks played a key role in helping Nazi Germany to stash and launder valuables, including gold, plundered from Jews and victims in countries it invaded. Last week, the British Foreign office issued a report that has revived claims that Nazi Germany funneled to Switzerland some $500 million of gold looted from National Treasuries — and German Jews. Switzerland has said all legal obligations for the return of Nazi gold had been settled by a 1946 agreement wi
