Former Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey (r) has defended Christoph Blocher (l) in the Hildebrand affair (Keystone)
Former Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey has defended as “normal” Christoph Blocher’s role in passing on to her details of the private banking transactions of then Swiss National Bank president Philipp Hildebrand last December.
“It was normal that he should have come to see me. When someone has
information of this kind, he must be able to bring it to the attention
of the president,” Calmy-Rey told Le Matin Dimanche.
“I immediately checked the veracity of his [Blocher’s] statements. If they were correct, we had a real problem. As it turned out to be. I therefore spoke with Mr Hildebrand and informed the cabinet.”
Stolen by a bank employee and passed on to members of the Swiss People’s Party, the banking data revealed the Hildebrand family had made profitable foreign currency transactions around the time Hildebrand was implementing the SNB’s controversial decision to attach a floor of SFr1.20 to the euro to the Swiss currency in August last year.
Accused of insider trading, Hildebrand maintained he had no prior knowledge of the currency trade which he said his wife had carried out. Unable to prove it however, he was forced to resign in January.
Blocher is one of four people being investigated by police over accusations they violated banking secrecy laws in the Hildebrand affair.
Blocher has rejected the accusations, claiming he acted only as a “postman”. On December 5, he forwarded the information he had about Hildebrand’s currency dealings to Calmy-Rey.
In her first public comments about the affair on Sunday, Calmy-Rey also revealed that Blocher came to her with the information shortly after having been sworn in as a member of Parliament.
This is significant as the question of whether Blocher is shielded from criminal charges by parliamentary immunity is currently being considered by two parliamentary committees following a request from the Zurich prosecutor’s office that his immunity be lifted.
“He informed me just after he was sworn in. I think it is correct and logical that an elected official could talk to the President rather than to the press when the reputation of Switzerland is at stake. It was my duty to look into it,” Calmy-Rey said.
“I must say I was disappointed by this affair. I supported Philipp Hildebrand for the vice presidency of the Financial Stability board with the help of [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel. A few weeks later, everything fell apart. It was therefore important to ensure that the credibility of Switzerland was not tainted.”
“I immediately checked the veracity of his [Blocher’s] statements. If they were correct, we had a real problem. As it turned out to be. I therefore spoke with Mr Hildebrand and informed the cabinet.”
Stolen by a bank employee and passed on to members of the Swiss People’s Party, the banking data revealed the Hildebrand family had made profitable foreign currency transactions around the time Hildebrand was implementing the SNB’s controversial decision to attach a floor of SFr1.20 to the euro to the Swiss currency in August last year.
Accused of insider trading, Hildebrand maintained he had no prior knowledge of the currency trade which he said his wife had carried out. Unable to prove it however, he was forced to resign in January.
Blocher is one of four people being investigated by police over accusations they violated banking secrecy laws in the Hildebrand affair.
Blocher has rejected the accusations, claiming he acted only as a “postman”. On December 5, he forwarded the information he had about Hildebrand’s currency dealings to Calmy-Rey.
In her first public comments about the affair on Sunday, Calmy-Rey also revealed that Blocher came to her with the information shortly after having been sworn in as a member of Parliament.
This is significant as the question of whether Blocher is shielded from criminal charges by parliamentary immunity is currently being considered by two parliamentary committees following a request from the Zurich prosecutor’s office that his immunity be lifted.
“He informed me just after he was sworn in. I think it is correct and logical that an elected official could talk to the President rather than to the press when the reputation of Switzerland is at stake. It was my duty to look into it,” Calmy-Rey said.
“I must say I was disappointed by this affair. I supported Philipp Hildebrand for the vice presidency of the Financial Stability board with the help of [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel. A few weeks later, everything fell apart. It was therefore important to ensure that the credibility of Switzerland was not tainted.”
swissinfo.ch and agencies
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