Is dirty cash still finding a Swiss home?
By Karen Iley Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. GENEVA (Reuters) – Bankers’ greed and regulatory loopholes risk undermining official efforts to dispel the view that Switzerland is a safe haven for ill-gotten gains, experts say. An international clampdown on money laundering after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States has put Switzerland under the spotlight because of its financial privacy laws and the fact that it houses a third of the world’s offshore wealth. Swiss officials insist that tight bank secrecy does not mask dirty money and that the country’s anti money laundering laws and due diligence procedures are among the world’s toughest. “Swiss bank secrecy protects neither terrorists nor those who support criminal organizations, nor any form of criminal activity, corruption or money laundering,” Economy Minister Pascal Couchepin told Reuters. Switzerland has taken significant steps to tighten rules in recent years and now insists that a bank has proof of th
