UBS official arrested on suspicion of embezzlement
An official at a branch of the Swiss bank, UBS, has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling SFr20 million ($11.9 million).
On Saturday, prosecuting authorities in the Swiss city of Basel confirmed the arrest of a UBS branch vice director, but would not release the name of the official under investigation.
Markus Melzl, spokesman for Basel’s prosecuting office, confirmed that a French client of the Swiss banker was also under arrest.
“The bank discovered during an internal investigation that funds had been lifted from the accounts of a number of clients and transferred to an account belonging to a French client,” Melzl said.
Christoph Meier, spokesman for UBS, said the branch official was arrested on December 21 after the bank filed a criminal complaint against him.
Meier said the 35-year-old staff member was believed to have embezzled the money from other clients and paid it to the 72-year-old French client, who used the funds to purchase paintings and sculptures.
UBS has said it will cover any losses to affected clients.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.