THE SWISS LAUNDRY Money launderingis a sneaky art of spraying gloss over ill-gotten assets. In other words, it’s like washing dirty linen where it should be - in privacy, while watchdogs cry hoarse to have it exposed to the public. However, obliging the watchdogs would invite trouble for the law-making launderers, as much as for the law-breaking ones. Hence the tardiness in getting the skeletons tumbling out. However, Swiss law forbids information of accounts and their holders to anyone, including their own government, except for valid reasons. Some of these are: violation of law against drug-trafficking, tax evasion, theft, fraud, blackmail and money-laundering. Whereas, money-laundering and others are treated as serious crimes, tax evasion, for example, is considered as a misdemeanour due to a possibility of error in judgment. When a foreign country wishes to obtain account information of a suspected criminal of that country, which information is otherwise protected by confidentiality clause, the issue of dual criminality comes into question. Dual criminality means that the case being investigated by foreign governments, needs to be punishable by law, both in Swiss courts and those of the foreign country requesting the information. Only then can the requirement of bank/client confidentiality be lifted. (An extract from my book: SIMPLY MY WAY (www.bennetpaes.com) Bennet Paes
