Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in  Zürich, Switzerland (Source: Wikipedia Commons)

By  Gary  Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Banking giant Credit Suisse has been found guilty for involvement in washing dirty money  related to a Bulgarian drugs ring.  Switzerland’s criminal court on Monday slapped a  £1.7m fine against the Zurich-based bank and ordered the financial institution to pay £15m to the Swiss government for laundering dirty drug money.   The court also found a former  bank employee  guilty of money laundering.  She was given  a 20-month suspended prison sentence and her £1.7m fine was  also suspended.  Switzerland’s criminal court found that the bank did not do enough to prevent members of the crime syndicate from profiting off the trafficking of cocaine into Europe.  The court heard evidence the Credit Suisse bank employee  regularly collected bags “full of cash”  from  the sale of drugs containing up to equivalent of £400,000 to be washed through the Swiss bank.  According to court evidence, the  Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang  laundering profits through the bank from 2004 to 2008. The case also heard testimony on murders related to the criminal activity. 

Credit Suisse Denies It Washed Dirty Money from the Bulgarian criminal syndicate 

Credit Suisse,  Zürich, Switzerland (Source:  Credit Suisse) 

Credit Suisse denied the money laundering allegations and said in a statement it will appeal the court ruling. 

“Credit Suisse Group has taken note of the Swiss Federal Criminal Court’s decision to impose a fine of CHF 2 million against Credit Suisse AG for certain historical organizational inadequacies (article 102 of the Swiss Criminal Code) for the period between July 2007 and December 2008. The investigation dates back more than 14 years. The bank will appeal the decision Credit Suisse is continuously testing its anti-money laundering framework and has been strengthening it over time, in accordance with evolving regulatory standards.”

-Credit Suisse statement June 27, 2022