Public Eye | Quiz: The dodgy lawyer

The dodgy lawyer

Everyone has the right to be defended, even the worst criminals. You have a broad interpretation of this principle. When you’re not busy requesting the disqualification of the judge or playing for time so that a statute of limitations expires, you come up with offshore schemes to camouflage the shady dealings of your wealthy clients.

Strengths: cunning, eloquence, unscrupulousness

Weakness: a nasty tendency to be greedy

You set up shell companies for those clients who insist on discretion. Are you obliged to report them if you suspect wrongdoings?

Yes, zero tolerance!

Switzerland has a zero tolerance policy on corruption and money laundering.

Yes, but this is unacceptable!

This obligation is a breach of the professional secrecy of lawyers!

No, no obligation!

In Switzerland, there is no obligation to denounce anyone! Thanks to whom?

Correct

Thanks to their lobby in Parliament, lawyers who set up companies still have ZERO duty of diligence. They are under no obligation to communicate their suspicions to the Money Laundering Reporting Office. Unless they have a direct access to the dosh.

20%

Wrong

Thanks to their lobby in Parliament, lawyers who set up companies still have ZERO duty of diligence. They are under no obligation to communicate their suspicions to the Money Laundering Reporting Office. Unless they have a direct access to the dosh.

20%

How many lawyers sit in Parliament, the ideal place to ensure that the loopholes in the Anti-Money Laundering Act are never plugged?

12

That’s about one in 20 seats in Parliament.

30

That’s about one in 8 seats in Parliament.

More than farmers; less than insurers

The number remains uncertain.

Correct

With 30 “robed” members out of 246, there are proportionally more lawyers in Parliament than among the population. Several of them also successfully argue their case in the influential legal affairs commissions.

40%

Wrong

With 30 “robed” members out of 246, there are proportionally more lawyers in Parliament than among the population. Several of them also successfully argue their case in the influential legal affairs commissions.

40%

Your client’s company – an unscrupulous trader – has been searched. What can you do to prevent his hard drive from being seized by the inspectors?

A sealing procedure

Ideal for delaying the investigation.

Nothing

Justice must be done!

Deny everything

The hard disk does not belong to your client or his company.

Correct

Thanks to a sealing procedure, the hard disk cannot be seized, on the pretext that it contains information – such as correspondence with lawyers – protected by secrecy laws. A court will have to decide.

60%

Wrong

Thanks to a sealing procedure, the hard disk cannot be seized, on the pretext that it contains information – such as correspondence with lawyers – protected by secrecy laws. A court will have to decide.

60%

How many offshore companies are there in Switzerland?

None

They are reserved for exotic jurisdictions: the British Virgin Islands, Panama, etc.

Stop living in the past!

Switzerland is no longer a tax haven.

Too many to count

But more than the number of lawyers and trustees combined.

Correct

Swiss lawyers are most active in setting up empty-shell companies designed to evade the justice system, also in Switzerland. And since Switzerland refuses to create a publicly accessible register of company beneficiaries, anonymity is guaranteed!

80%

Wrong

Swiss lawyers are most active in setting up empty-shell companies designed to evade the justice system, also in Switzerland. And since Switzerland refuses to create a publicly accessible register of company beneficiaries, anonymity is guaranteed!

80%

Who is Switzerland’s favourite lawyer for corrupt diamond dealers?

Marc Bonnant: Shakespeare of the bar

“Being a lawyer is a profession of ideals. Then, as is often the case, the ideal becomes corrupted.”

Christian Lüscher: parliament lawyer

“Morality is an elastic notion.”

Kevin Lomax: young, ambitious lawyer

“Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.”

Correct

Mr Bonnant defends those “looting” Africa, such as Beny Steinmetz the diamond dealer, convicted for corruption in Geneva, or Dan Gertler, whose business is a nightmare for the DRC. He also manages the offshore activities of his corrupt clients.

100%

Wrong

Mr Bonnant defends those “looting” Africa, such as Beny Steinmetz the diamond dealer, convicted for corruption in Geneva, or Dan Gertler, whose business is a nightmare for the DRC. He also manages the offshore activities of his corrupt clients.

100%