The Swiss Parliamentary Investigation Committee (PUK) on the Credit Suisse debacle met for the first time and PUK chairwoman Isabelle Chassot informed the media that it will start hearings in October. PUK sessions, however, will be behind closed doors and classified. Even names of witnesses will not be made public. Only at the end of the investigation, some 12-15 months from now, will the PUK release a report, the Aargauer Zeitung reported. However, all records on the UBS bailout of Credit Suisse bailout will be classified for 50 years!
Keeping the lid on the story behind the CS bankruptcy and bailout is not in the interest of the Swiss people, who have the right to know how their money has been (mis)used. A public investigation would have cast light on the bankruptcy and corruption of the financial system and supplied ground for the bank separation reform advocated by many in Switzerland. Hopefully, voters’ discontent will be felt at the coming federal elections in october.
A taste of popular sentiment are readers’ comments in the Aargauer Zeitung. “What has changed since the feudal age?” asks a reader from Lucerne. “Nothing, absolutely nothing. ‘Direct democracy’ [referring to the U.S. Constitutional system] consists of making us electoral promises and then—under the pretext of secrecy and emergency law—shamelessly manipulating us.”
“What is the use of this Parliamentary Investigation Committee, or what is it supposed to do?” asks a reader from Sins. “Will those responsible ever be called to account? Does the suspicion arise that the Nobel Mafia is once again well connected?”
