Data leak at Credit Suisse unmasks global corruption and crime

Data breach at Switzerland-based global investment bank and financial services firm Credit Suisse has exposed the hidden wealth of clients involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and other serious crimes.

The banking data was leaked by an anonymous whistleblower to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, reports the Guardian. 

"I believe that Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral. The pretext of protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders," the whistleblower source said in a statement.

A consortium of media outlets has been given exclusive access to the data. The leak points to widespread failures of due diligence by Credit Suisse, despite repeated pledges over decades to weed out dubious clients and illicit funds.

Accounts linked to 30,000 Credit Suisse clients all over the world are contained in the leak, which unmasks the beneficiaries of more than £80 billion held in one of Switzerland's best-known financial institutions. 

The leaks include information about a human trafficker in the Philippines, a Hong Kong stock exchange boss jailed for bribery, a billionaire who ordered the murder of his Lebanese pop star girlfriend and executives who looted Venezuela's state oil company, as well as corrupt politicians from Egypt to Ukraine.

Credit Suisse said on Sunday it "strongly rejects" allegations of wrongdoing after dozens of media published results of coordinated, Panama Papers-style investigations into a leak of data on thousands of accounts held there in previous decades.

"Credit Suisse strongly rejects the allegations and insinuations about the bank's purported business practices," Credit Suisse said in a statement issued in response to the consortium's reports.

"The matters presented are predominantly historical ... and the accounts of these matters are based on partial, inaccurate, or selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank's business conduct."

The bank said it had received "numerous inquiries" from the consortium in the past three weeks and reviewed many of the accounts in question.

"Approximately 90% of the reviewed accounts are today closed or were in the process of closure prior to receipt of the press inquiries, of which over 60% were closed before 2015," it said.

"Of the remaining active accounts, we are comfortable that appropriate due diligence, reviews and other control related steps were taken in line with our current framework. We will continue to analyze the matters and take additional steps if necessary."