An investigation by a US Senate committee has revealed that Credit Suisse allegedly withheld information during previous investigations into bank accounts that belonged to Nazis during the Second World War.
“Tens of thousands of documents discovered following the commission’s investigation (…) provide new evidence of the existence of previously unknown or only partially known Nazi-linked account holders,” said Saturday in a press release the Senate Budget Committee. “The bank did not reveal the existence of these accounts during previous investigations”, carried out in particular in the 1990s, added the commission.
An investigation still ongoing
These revelations follow the discoveries of former prosecutor Neil Barofsky, appointed mediator at Credit Suisse in 2021. Neil Barofsky was fired by Credit Suisse in 2022, after the bank “put pressure (…) on him to limit his investigation,” the Senate committee argued. The former prosecutor was then reinstated in 2023 after the takeover of Credit Suisse by its competitor UBS.
Neil Barofsky’s team discovered records that helped identify other Nazi-linked clients, including an account controlled by high-ranking SS officers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Credit Suisse “did not always share the information it held,” said Neil Barofsky in a letter sent to the Senate committee in mid-December and made public on Saturday. “My team worked closely with Credit Suisse to ensure that all relevant portions of its surviving records were incorporated into the investigation,” Barofsky also said.
Contacted by AFP, UBS said it was “committed to contributing to a comprehensive inventory of old Nazi-linked accounts previously held at Credit Suisse’s predecessor banks.” The bank said it was providing “all necessary assistance” to Neil Barofsky “so that he can continue to shed light on this tragic period of history through this investigation.” The Senate committee’s investigation is still ongoing.
In 1998, Swiss banks agreed to compensate Jews robbed by the Nazis to the tune of $1.25 billion.
