Swiss authorities are quick to criticize the work of the press whenever it breaches the sacrosanct banking secrecy. While most democracies allow exceptions in their respective legislations to protect journalists who reveal information of public interest − such as corruption, money laundering or tax fraud − Switzerland categorically refuses to do so. Article 47 of its banking law even prescribes five years in prison for journalists who exploit banking data leaks or who reveal the identity of a bank’s client.
It is by relying on this legislation, introduced in 2015, that Reyl Bank filed a complaint against unknown persons to try to dissuade Le Monde and its partners from publishing their April 9 investigation on the failures of the bank’s anti-money laundering mechanisms − an investigation based on confidential documents. Yet our revelations have precisely highlighted Switzerland’s contradictions regarding banking secrecy and freedom of the press: they show that a previous banking leak exploited by the press served as the starting point for a major investigation launched by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) − thus undeniably confirming the public interest of that previous publication.
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