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Graft and Corruption in Switzerland
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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.


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