Safra Sarasin private bank and former asset manager sentenced

This conviction is linked to the international corruption case known as "Lava Jato", involving the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. Keystone-SDA

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has fined private bank J. Safra Sarasin CHF3.5 million ($4.3 million) for aggravated money laundering. A former bank employee received a six-month suspended prison sentence in the same case.

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J. Safra Sarasin also paid a settlement of CHF16 million to the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, the plaintiff in the case.

This conviction is linked to the international corruption case known as “Lava Jato”, involving Petrobras, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on Friday.

In 2018, Swiss courts opened a criminal investigation against the Basel-based Bank J. Safra Sarasin, one of its former asset managers and unknown persons for “suspected complicity in the bribery of foreign public officials and aggravated money laundering” committed between November 2011 and July 2014, the office said.

It added: “Several bank accounts were opened with Banque Safra in Switzerland and used to receive or transfer corrupt payments from approximately ten companies operating in the oil and construction sectors. These payments were intended for senior executives of the state-owned company Petrobras, also clients of Banque Safra, to promote the interests of these companies in the award, negotiation and/or continuation of contracts entered with Petrobras and/or its subsidiaries.” 

Pictet and PKB also convicted

Swiss prosecutors recorded transfers totalling around USD42.5 million and $28.5 million executed by the bank but refused by the recipient institutions.

“This order does not constitute an admission of guilt or an acceptance of civil or criminal liability on the part of the bank,” said the bank in response to a question from the AWP news agency.

In mid-June, Swiss prosecutors fined Pictet CHF2 million for organisational shortcomings that enabled one of its former asset managers to commit aggravated money laundering in connection with the “Lava Jato” affair.

PKB Privatbank (PKB) was also fined CHF750,000 in this case in 2024.

The “Lava Jato” affair broke out in Brazil in 2014. It uncovered bribes received by corrupt Petrobras officials, with its attendant illicit financial circuits and rigged contracts.

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Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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