Swiss consider amending banking secrecy laws amid UN pressure

theguardian.com:

Swiss politicians will debate the future of the country’s controversial banking secrecy law this week, as it faces pressure from UN officials to scrap rules under which whistleblowers and journalists who report on potential wrongdoing can be prosecuted.

A committee in Switzerland’s parliament could put forward proposals by Friday that would amend the banking secrecy law – known as article 47 – which makes it a criminal offence to disclose information about a bank’s clients, even if it is in the public interest to do so.

It comes amid mounting international pressure to repeal the law, including from the United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, who said article 47 violated international law and human rights. “This is normally a problem in authoritarian states,” she said.

Khan, who has written to the Swiss government on the matter, is planning to escalate her concerns regarding article 47 to the UN’s human rights council next month.

Her intervention following an investigation by a consortium of international media outlets, including the Guardian, into Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse. The leak, which included data for 30,000 clients, revealed that the bank held accounts for individuals involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and other serious crimes, over decades.

However, Switzerland’s extreme banking secrecy laws meant that journalists who took part in the investigation, known as the Suisse secrets project,risked potential fines or even imprisonment. Swiss media could not take part as a result.

It prompted Khan to write to the Swiss government, demanding they explain how the laws aligned with the country’s commitment to human rights.

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