Graft and Corruption in Switzerland Home > Business Guide > Table of Contents > Outside the law > Corruption
Corruption is almost unheard of in Switzerland,
and when scandals happen, they are only on
scale of the country itself. Judge for yourself: one of
the biggest recent scandals caused the resignation
of a Federal Councilor (halfway between a Minister
and the President), and the first woman to reach
that level to boot. So what terrible crime did Ms.Kopp commit? Did she receive commissions for
arms deals? Or maybe she helped herself to the
State’s treasury? Eh bien non. While she was the
head of the Justice Department, she learned that
her husband, a wealthy Zurich businessman, was
going to be investigated by the police for alleged
money laundering. She called him up saying, “they
are on their way” from her office. When this phone
call was discovered, she immediately resigned in
January 1989 (how it was discovered is another
story). Incidentally, Mr. Kopp was later cleared of
all charges. |