US senators accuse Credit Suisse of ignoring records in Nazi accounts probe

In 2020, Credit Suisse commissioned an investigation into allegations that the bank had held Nazi-linked accounts and had failed to disclose them. © Keystone / Michael Buholzer

An investigation published by lawmakers in the United States claims that Credit Suisse did not review all available records during its probe into bank accounts held by Nazis in the decades after the Second World War.

According to an independent reviewer’s report published by the Senate Budget Committee, just under 1,000 of 65,000 sets of records were available electronically for review, ReutersExternal link reported on Thursday.

+Read more about the Holocaust assets controversy

On top of failing to include numerous relevant records in its probe, Credit Suisse also prevented the former probe ombudsman from seeing “critical” materials, the report said. “Out of respect for Holocaust victims and their families, we cannot turn a blind eye to these shortcomings,” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, the panel’s ranking member, said in a statement.

AlixPartners, the consulting firm Credit Suisse hired to conduct the probe, and the former ombudsman did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. A spokesperson for Credit Suisse referred Reuters to its April statementExternal link, reiterating its concerns over the ombudsman’s work.

+Swiss banks accused of hiding data behind secrecy laws

In 2020, Credit Suisse commissioned an investigation into allegations by the Jewish human rights organisation Simon Wiesenthal Center that the bank had held Nazi-linked accounts and had failed to disclose them.

A list of 12,000 Nazis who are said to have lived in Argentina from the 1930s onwards has been found in Buenos Aires. Many of those Nazi sympathisers reportedly paid money into one or more accounts at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, which later became Credit Suisse.

This is not the first time that criticism has been levelled at the former Swiss bank’s investigation. Earlier in April, some top US Senators said Credit Suisse had deliberately hampered the investigation into Nazi assets and in July they accused the group of failing to follow through on pledges to cooperate with the probe.