Christoph Meili

His disclosure was one of the factors prompting a [[United States dollar|US$]]1.25 billion [[World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks|settlement between multiple Swiss banks and Jewish victims]] in August 1998. Meili was entitled to $750,000 of the settlement. He returned to Switzerland having spent all his settlement money and to mixed reception by Swiss papers.

His disclosure was one of the factors prompting a [[United States dollar|US$]]1.25 billion [[World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks|settlement between multiple Swiss banks and Jewish victims]] in August 1998. Meili was entitled to $750,000 of the settlement. He returned to Switzerland having spent all his settlement money and to mixed reception by Swiss papers.

== Whistleblowing ==

In early 1997, Meili was working as a night guard at the [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] (UBS) in [[Zürich]]. He discovered that officials at UBS were destroying documents about orphaned assets, believed to be credit balances of deceased Jewish clients whose heirs' whereabouts were unknown, as well as books from the German [[Reichsbank]].{{Cite book|author=Eizenstat, Stuart|year=2003|title=Imperfect Justice|isbn=1-58648-110-X|publisher=PublicAffairs|place=New York|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/imperfectjustice00eize}}, p. 94 They listed stock accounts for companies in business during [[The Holocaust]], including [[BASF]], [[Evonik Industries|Degussa]], and [[Degesch]].Eizenstat, pp. 94-95 They listed real-estate records for Berlin property that had been seized by the Nazis, placed in Swiss accounts, and then claimed to be owned by UBS.Eizenstat. p. 95 Destruction of such documents is against Swiss laws.[http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Bundesbeschluss betreffend die historische und rechtliche Untersuchung des Schicksals der infolge der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in die Schweiz gelangten Vermögenswerte (in German)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226144023/http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 |date=2008-02-26 }}. Entry in force since 14 December 1996. This edict was the legal basis and foundation of the [[Bergier commission]], constituted on 19 December 1996. Articles 4, 5, and 7 made the destruction or withholding of documents relating to orphaned assets illegal.[http://www.parliament.ch/dL/D/dossiers/nachrichtenlose_vermoegen/chronologie_detaillierte_uebersicht_1994-1996.htm Chronology: Switzerland in World War II – Detailed Overview of the years 1994-1996.] The documents Meili saved reportedly predate the Nazi period, dating from 1897 to 1927.Kantonsparlament Zürich: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070328024933/http://www.kantonsrat.zh.ch/Dokumente/Sitzungen/KR-Protokolle/1995-1999/160.DOC Protokoll der Sitzung von Montag, 20 April 1998] (DOC-Datei; 416 kB)'' (Word-Dokument). On 8 January 1997,Diermeier, P.: [http://www.c2u.ch/meili.htm Meili - Mission zwischen Moral und Milliarden (in German)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027164949/http://www.c2u.ch/meili.htm |date=2014-10-27 }}. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich: 2003; {{ISBN|3-280-06009-5}}. he took some bank files home. After a telephone conversation, he handed them over to a local Jewish organization, which brought the documents to the police, and eventually to the press, which published the document destruction on 14 January 1997. The Zürich authorities opened a judicial investigation against Meili{{cite web|url=http://www.kantonsrat.zh.ch/Dokumente/Sitzungen/KR-Protokolle/1995-1999/160.DOC |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-03-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320173357/http://www.kantonsrat.zh.ch/Dokumente/Sitzungen/KR-Protokolle/1995-1999/160.DOC |archivedate=March 20, 2009 }} for suspected violations of the [[Banking in Switzerland|Swiss laws on banking secrecy]],[http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/952_0/a47.html Bundesgesetz über die Banken und Sparkassen (Bankengesetz, BankG), Swiss Law:, Article 47 (in German)]. Accessed 3 November 2006. which is a prosecutable offense ''[[ex officio]]'' in Switzerland.Schwarb, T.M. [http://www.fhso.ch/pdf/publikationen/dp98-01.pdf "Ich verpfeife meine Firma" – Einführung in das Phänomen Whistle-Blowing (in German)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325185944/http://www.fhso.ch/pdf/publikationen/dp98-01.pdf |date=2007-03-25 }}, ''Fachhochschule Solothurn'', July 1998; accessed 3 November 2006.

In early 1997, Meili was working as a night guard at the [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] (UBS) in [[Zürich]]. He discovered that officials at UBS were destroying documents about orphaned assets, believed to be credit balances of deceased Jewish clients whose heirs' whereabouts were unknown, as well as books from the German [[Reichsbank]].{{Cite book|author=Eizenstat, Stuart|year=2003|title=Imperfect Justice|isbn=1-58648-110-X|publisher=PublicAffairs|place=New York|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/imperfectjustice00eize}}, p. 94 They listed stock accounts for companies in business during [[The Holocaust]], including [[BASF]], [[Evonik Industries|Degussa]], and [[Degesch]].Eizenstat, pp. 94-95 They listed real-estate records for Berlin property that had been seized by the Nazis, placed in Swiss accounts, and then claimed to be owned by UBS.Eizenstat. p. 95 Destruction of such documents is against Swiss laws.[http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Bundesbeschluss betreffend die historische und rechtliche Untersuchung des Schicksals der infolge der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in die Schweiz gelangten Vermögenswerte (in German)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226144023/http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 |date=2008-02-26 }}. Entry in force since 14 December 1996. This edict was the legal basis and foundation of the [[Bergier commission]], constituted on 19 December 1996. Articles 4, 5, and 7 made the destruction or withholding of documents relating to orphaned assets illegal.[http://www.parliament.ch/dL/D/dossiers/nachrichtenlose_vermoegen/chronologie_detaillierte_uebersicht_1994-1996.htm Chronology: Switzerland in World War II – Detailed Overview of the years 1994-1996.] The documents Meili saved reportedly predate the Nazi period, dating from 1897 to 1927.Kantonsparlament Zürich: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070328024933/http://www.kantonsrat.zh.ch/Dokumente/Sitzungen/KR-Protokolle/1995-1999/160.DOC Protokoll der Sitzung von Montag, 20 April 1998] (DOC-Datei; 416 kB)'' (Word-Dokument). On 8 January 1997,Diermeier, P.: [http://www.c2u.ch/meili.htm Meili - Mission zwischen Moral und Milliarden (in German)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027164949/http://www.c2u.ch/meili.htm |date=2014-10-27 }}. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich: 2003; {{ISBN|3-280-06009-5}}. he took some bank files home. After a telephone conversation, he handed them over to a local Jewish organization, which brought the documents to the police, and eventually to the press, which published the document destruction on 14 January 1997. The Zürich authorities opened a judicial investigation against Meili{{cite web|url=http://www.kantonsrat.zh.ch/Dokumente/Sitzungen/KR-Protokolle/1995-1999/160.DOC |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-03-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320173357/http://www.kantonsrat.zh.ch/Dokumente/Sitzungen/KR-Protokolle/1995-1999/160.DOC |archivedate=March 20, 2009 }} for suspected violations of the [[Banking in Switzerland|Swiss laws on banking secrecy]],[http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/952_0/a47.html Bundesgesetz über die Banken und Sparkassen (Bankengesetz, BankG), Swiss Law:, Article 47 (in German)]. Accessed 3 November 2006. which is a prosecutable offense ''[[ex officio]]'' in Switzerland.Schwarb, T.M. [http://www.fhso.ch/pdf/publikationen/dp98-01.pdf "Ich verpfeife meine Firma" – Einführung in das Phänomen Whistle-Blowing (in German)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325185944/http://www.fhso.ch/pdf/publikationen/dp98-01.pdf |date=2007-03-25 }}, ''Fachhochschule Solothurn'', July 1998; accessed 3 November 2006.