Credit Suisse, the beleaguered Swiss bank, has been accused by US senators of limiting the scope of an internal probe into Nazi clients and Nazi-linked accounts. Including some that were established only a few years ago.
The Senate Budget Committee claims that an independent ombudsman appointed by the bank to oversee the investigation. Which was “inexplicably terminated” while carrying out his duties. And it criticises “incomplete” reports hampered by constraints.
Credit Suisse said it was “fully cooperating” with the committee’s investigation but denied some assertions made by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre. A Jewish human rights organisation located in Los Angeles. That brought to light allegations of probable Nazi-linked accounts at Switzerland’s second-largest bank in 2020.
Despite the obstacles, the committee said Tuesday that the ombudsman’s and forensic research team’s investigations. Which discovered at least 99 accounts for prominent Nazi officials in Germany or members of Nazi-affiliated groups in Argentina. The majority of which were previously unknown.
The committee stated that the materials “raise new questions about the bank’s potential support for Nazis. Fleeing justice following World War II via so-called ‘Ratlines.” Alluding to a network of escape routes used by Nazis after the war.
Credit Suisse pledged to continue Investigation
Credit Suisse, according to the committee, “has pledged to continue its own investigation into remaining unanswered questions.”
“When it comes to investigating Nazi crimes, righteous justice requires us to leave no stone unturned.” Credit Suisse has so far failed to fulfil that criteria,” said Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the budget panel’s leading Republican.
The committee is “leaving no stone unturned when it comes to investigating Nazis. And seeking justice for Holocaust survivors and their families, and we are committed to seeing this investigation through,” according to Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island.
The internal investigation was begun by Credit Suisse. after the Simon Wiesenthal Centre stated it had information that the bank maintained potential Nazi-linked accounts that had not previously been reported, including during a series of Holocaust-related probes in the 1990s.
Late in the decade, Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion to Nazi victims and their families who accused the banks of stealing, hiding, or delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in Jewish holdings to the Nazis.
