Government Switzerland has a legal framework to combat corruption and several authorities are in charge of curbing the levels of it, particularly when it comes to corruption within
Swiss financial institutions. Several sources suggest that the country's fight against corruption has been effective. However, efforts to combat corruption, especially with respect to political party financing have been described as unsatisfactory. The
Council of Europe's
Group of States Against Corruption (
GRECO) noted in its 2017 evaluation the specific features of Switzerland's institutions which inspire public confidence in those institutions. The GRECO report also identified three problem areas: potential conflicts of interest in politicians, a potential lack of objectivity in federal judges, and a lack of transparency in the internal operations of the Office of the Attorney General. Finally, GRECO recommended that formal codes of conduct be adopted in these three areas. On
Transparency International's 2024
Corruption Perceptions Index, Switzerland scored 81 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). This is Switzerland's lowest score since the current scoring system was implemented in 2012. When ranked by score, Switzerland ranked 5th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the best score among Western European and
European Union countries was 90, the average score was 64 and the worst score was 41. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180). The Transparency International Global Barometer 2013 showed that
political parties were considered the most corrupt institution in Switzerland. On a scale of 1 (not at all corrupt) to 5 (extremely corrupt), the Swiss rated their political parties at 3.3. A Transparency International Switzerland report published in February 2024 also found that every second Swiss company that exports goods is confronted with demands for bribes or gifts. According to the study, 63% of companies comply with these demands. Cases of excessive force, lengthy detention and abuse against
migrants or asylum seekers have been reported. In some cases police officers have been given suspended sentences or suspended fines for using excessive force while arresting individuals. The
Helsinki Commission of the US Congress has strongly criticized the functioning of the Swiss judiciary and courts in 2023; namely by saying they are "corrupt".
Business Regarding business and corruption, companies do not consider corruption a problem for doing business in Switzerland, and Swiss companies are active in
Corporate Social Responsibility that are generally in line with
OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises. According to the
OECD: Some recent examples include
Novartis paying $729 million to settle bribery cases in the United States and
Greece in 2020 or Zurich-based bank
Julius Baer admitting to laundering over $36 million in bribes in a
FIFA case in 2021. In 2021,
Credit Suisse was prosecuted in a
Mozambique tuna bonds corruption scandal in the
United States.
Banking In 2018, the advocacy group
Tax Justice Network ranked
Switzerland's banking sector as the "most corrupt" in the world due to a large
offshore banking industry and very strict secrecy laws. These laws allow
money laundering and hiding illegally obtained wealth. The Tax Justice Network's ranking attempts to measure how much assistance the country's legal systems provide to money laundering, and to protecting corruptly obtained wealth. The
enabling industry refers to lawyers, fiduciaries, notaries, and real estate agents who are helping the criminals invest or hide their ill-gotten monies. Their activity is not covered by the
Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act as long as they are only advising clients to place money in a particular financial institution or country. ==Notes==