Head of crime fighting unit throws in the towel

Niklaus Huber is out of the picture Keystone Archive

The boss of the Swiss body charged with combating money laundering has resigned with immediate effect. The finance ministry said his departure was the result of differences between Niklaus Huber and the head of the federal financial administration, Peter Siegenthaler.

The finance ministry said on Wednesday that Huber, 39, would be stepping down with immediate effect. His interim replacement has been named as Armand Meyer, 62, the former president of the Zurich’s commercial court.

Insiders said Huber’s straight-talking style had ruffled feathers at the finance ministry. He was also said to be taking too long to process suspected cases of financial crime.

Earlier this month, Huber complained about what a shortage of staff at the authority, telling a newspaper that he needed between 30 and 40 people to handle the backlog of cases. He also said he had been subjected to personal attacks, which appeared aimed at forcing him out.

The authority has been plagued by problems. Late last year four of the six members of the authority resigned amid speculation that they were fed up with the lack of resources and personnel available to combat financial crime.

At the time, the finance ministry admitted that their heavy workload may have contributed to their decisions to step down.

Their departures followed those of top two officials in the justice ministry, Daniel Thelesklaf and Mark van Thiel, who left after accusing the government of failing to come up with a clear strategy for dealing with money laundering.

The Money Laundering Control Authority is charged with cracking down on financial crimes in the non-banking sector, which includes fiduciaries, exchange bureaus and raw materials dealers.

swissinfo with agencies