Christoph Meili

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christoph Meili (born April 21, 1968 ) is a Swiss whistleblower who in 1997 publicized the alleged destruction of old bank documents on dormant assets of Holocaust victims at the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBG).

The "Meili Case"

Meili worked in 1997 on behalf of Wache AG for the Swiss Bank Corporation as a night watchman . He observed that a lot of evidence of banking relationships with (he believed) Jewish Holocaust victims was provided for the shredder . The destruction of files on such dormant assets was prohibited in Switzerland the year before. On the night of January 8th to 9th, 1997, he took some of these receipts from the bank to his home in order to give them to representatives of a Jewish organization soon after. They immediately handed the documents over to the Swiss criminal police. The press reported the incident on January 14, 1997. It was overlooked that the "rescued" files came from the years 1897 to 1927 and therefore could not be directly related to dormant assets.

The public prosecutor of the canton of Zurich then opened criminal proceedings against Meili for breaching banking secrecy , which is an official offense in Switzerland . The American attorney Ed Fagan contacted Meili and persuaded him to emigrate to the United States , where he and his family - supported by Fagan and Senator Al D'Amato - benefited from an easier immigration procedure and received political asylum . According to an American press report, Meili and his family are the only Swiss people who have ever been granted political asylum in the United States. On January 13, 1998, Fagan filed a lawsuit against the UBS on Meili's behalf, demanding a sum of US $ 2.56 billion. The comparison of the Swiss banks with the plaintiffs in the proceedings for Jewish assets at Swiss banks in the amount of 1.25 billion dollars on August 13, 1998 also covered Meili's lawsuit and thus ended it. Also in 1998 the criminal investigation of the Canton of Zurich against Meili was stopped for lack of criminal behavior.

Further development

Meili's marriage ended in divorce in late February 2002. In the newspaper Die Weltwoche , Meili criticized Fagan for instrumentalizing him and then abandoning him. Meili said he never received the $ 1 million he should have received after settling with the banks. He had received $ 750,000, according to a March 17, 2005 report in Facts magazine . In April 2004, Fagan launched another campaign against Swiss banks in connection with forced labor at IG Farben during World War II. He was apparently again supported by Meili.

In 2003 the Swiss journalist Patricia Diermeier published Meili - Mission between Morals and Billions in Orell Füssli Verlag, a book about the events surrounding Meili, which received a lot of media attention. Meili received a scholarship from a Jewish organization in order to establish a new existence in the USA in New Jersey with a degree in communication science. After graduating from college in May 2004, he returned to work as a security guard. He was naturalized in the United States on May 14, 2005. In an interview with the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick published on October 21, 2006, Meili repeated his criticism of Fagan and the Jewish organizations. In response to the presentation in the SonntagsBlick , Meili published a replica on Google Video on October 23, 2006 with the title Blick is lying .

Meili occasionally posted videos on YouTube talking about his private life, including one in mid-January 2009 in which he announced that he had moved out of his previous apartment and lived in his car because of financial problems.

On April 2, 2009, Meili returned to Switzerland after spending more than eleven years in the USA. The return was staged in a media-effective way organized in advance. On his journey home from the USA, Meili was accompanied by journalists from Ringier Verlag, the publisher of the tabloids Blick and SonntagsBlick . According to media reports, Ringier is said to have granted Meili financial support.

Movies

Daniel von Aarburg filmed the events, the documentary Affair Meili - A Whistleblower Between Morals and Billions premiered in mid-August 2018.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Prepared Testimony of Christoph Meili. Former Security Guard. Union Bank of Switzerland ( Memento from January 10, 2001 in the Internet Archive ). In: banking.senate.gov. May 6, 1997 (PDF; 7 kB).
  2. ↑ The Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Federal Decree concerning the historical and legal investigation of the fate of the assets that came into Switzerland as a result of the National Socialist rule came into force on December 14, 1996. This decision was the legal basis of the Bergier Commission , which was issued on December 19 Was constituted in 1996. Articles 4, 5 and 7 prohibited the destruction of files relating to dormant property. See chronology: Switzerland in World War II. Detailed Overview 1994-95 ( Memento of 18 July 2006 in the Internet Archive ) bezügl. the exact dates.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Patricia Diermeier: Meili - Mission between Morals and Billions ( Memento of October 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-280-06009-5 .
  4. ↑ Chronology: Switzerland in the Second World War. Brief overview 1934–1994. Swiss Parliament (PDF; 120 kB).
  5. ↑ a b c Minutes of the Zurich Cantonal Council. 160th meeting, Monday, April 20, 1998, 8:15 a.m. ( memento of March 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). Cantonal Parliament of Zurich (DOC; 416 kB).
  6. ↑ Federal Law on Banks and Savings Banks (BankG), Art. 47
  7. ↑ Thomas M. Schwarb: "I whistle my company" - Introduction to the Whistle-Blowing phenomenon ( Memento from March 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). Solothurn University of Applied Sciences, July 1998 (PDF; 4 kB).
  8. ↑ An Act. For the relief of Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili. (PDF; 251 kB); was signed by President Bill Clinton on July 29, 1997 to become Private Law 105-1 .
  9. ^ Question from Schlüer Ulrich. Political asylum for Christoph Meili in the USA ( Memento from December 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Swiss Parliament, June 9, 1997; and the answer ( memento of December 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) by Federal Councilor Flavio Cotti .
  10. ^ LA Jewish Community Honors Christoph Meili At May 8th Dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel ( Memento from December 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: PRNewswire. May 1, 2000.
  11. ↑ Chronology: Switzerland in the Second World War. Brief overview 1934–1994. Swiss Parliament (PDF; 120 kB).
  12. ↑ Stewart Ain: Amid Personal Hardship, Rescuer of Swiss Bank Documents to Receive Payment ( Memento of November 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive ). In: World Jewry. United Jewish Communities, February 28, 2002.
  13. ^ Christoph Meili: Christoph Meili ( Memento of November 4, 2005 in the Internet Archive ). In: Die Weltwoche . 38/03, 2003 (conversation, recorded by Patricia Diermeier).
  14. ^ The Boomerang ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Facts . 5/11, March 17, 2005, p. 10.
  15. ^ Holocaust funds - new allegations against UBS ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Basler Zeitung . April 14, 2004.
  16. ↑ Fagan vs. UBS - The Neverending Story ( Memento from January 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). SRF , 10vor10 . April 15, 2004.
  17. ↑ Dominik Hug: Christoph Meili regrets everything. In: SonntagsBlick . October 21, 2006.
  18. ^ Banking coup: Christoph Meili wants to turn back the clock ( memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Basler Zeitung. October 2006.
  19. ^ Marius Egger: Christoph Meili: "Now I live in the car". In: 20 minutes . January 16, 2009.
  20. ↑ Deborah Rast: "Here I am safe". In: 20 minutes. April 5, 2009.
  21. ↑ «Meili is a zero number and a joke». In: 20 minutes. April 6, 2009.
  22. ↑ Gila Blau: «I would do it again». The Meili Affair - a chronology. In: Tages-Anzeiger . Retrieved August 20, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Meili, Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meili, Michel Christopher
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss whistleblower
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1968