Worst than Al Qaeda

This blogger thinks that if Switzerland doesn’t mend its way then should be declared a rogue nation. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if one adds that this country is turning out to be more dangerous than Al Qaeda. They have succeeded in protecting from the world's tax authorities nearly a third of the world's $7 trillion of privately held wealth- includes illicit fortunes of some of the world's most corrupt rulers. Swiss financiers are accused of destabilizing democracy during the last 100 years. From this blood money of people around the world this tiny nation has given standard of living that is envied by the rest of the world. Its per capita income is staggering $42,840.

The slipping of its mask started with United States getting its act right. UBS Switzerland's biggest bank was embroiled in a multi-million-dollar tax evasion scandal in the United States that led to the bank being sued by the US Department of Justice, which demanded the identities and details of 52,000 of its American account holders. UBS paid a $788m fine and handed details of 250 private accounts to US investigators after court documents revealed that UBS wealth managers smuggled diamonds in toothpaste tubes (hey I know few who brought gold from Dubai to Kerala decades back like this!!. Swiss were expected to be innovative!!), deliberately destroyed offshore bank records on behalf of clients and assisted wealthy Americans to conceal ownership of their assets by creating "sham" offshore trusts. Misleading and false documentation was routinely prepared to facilitate this. This was done according to a senior UBS executive to ensure the bank managed a staggering $20bn of assets owned by wealthy US individuals, which generated the bank $200m in fees each year (any guesses how they have such high standard of living?!!). Now if this is what they could do to US then imagine what is stored for India. Forget India forget your trillion dollars. Don’t underestimate Indian elite, they can do worst than this.

Now you might think that this is about the richest bank, not at all, the country's president Hans-Rudolf Merz who doubles up as country's finance minister is a former UBS banker. Aha. UBS recently dumped $40bn worth of toxic sub-prime mortgages and CDOs into a "bad bank" and required a $3bn government bail-out. The otherwise recalcitrant Swiss public reacted with fury when it realized UBS was doling out $2bn to loss-making money-men. It is déjà vu time for banks and big corporate in rich countries.

It is time up for Switzerland. The sophisticated veneer is slipping and aren’t we seeing some monsters. It is same monster that helped finance Hitler's rise to power, hid gold looted from Holocaust victims (they even gained from victims of slave labor. How heinous can we get). What is the difference between Al Qaeda and Swiss Banks? Both live and prosper on the misery of others. Both are threat to world peace by destabilizing nations and societies. The difference is one uses crude primitive method carrying machine guns and rocket launchers while the other come in suit, and like arms dealers, carry charming billion dollar smile, and yes they are in business for more than a century. Zurich is now capital of financial terrorists. Its game over for Switzerland they don’t have place in civilized world.