Full Breakdown
Former Swiss Banker Pierre Mirabaud Convicted of Bribery and Money Laundering
9/8/2026, 11:59:00 PM
The Conviction and Its Core Details
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona found Pierre Mirabaud, the 77-year-old former partner of Mirabaud & Cie and former president of the Swiss Bankers Association, guilty of bribing a foreign public official and of money-laundering. He received a two-year prison sentence that was suspended. The court read the operative part of the judgment in summary proceedings late on Tuesday morning, concluding that Mirabaud had provided benefits totalling roughly 82 million Swiss francs to a senior Kuwaiti official in exchange for that official directing public funds to the Geneva-based private bank.
Background of the Scheme
Swiss federal prosecutors allege that the scheme operated from May 2000 through March 2012. Mirabaud systematically paid “unjustified kickbacks” to Fahad Al-Rajaan, then director-general of Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS). In return, Al-Rajaan invested PIFSS assets with Mirabaud & Cie, ultimately placing more than half a billion U.S. dollars in the bank’s investment products. The indictment notes that Mirabaud was aware of the risk associated with the payments and accepted the possible consequences. Al-Rajaan died in London in 2022, and the Kuwaiti official had previously been convicted in absentia of corruption in Kuwait.
Financial Scope of the Corruption
- Bribes: 82.3 million Swiss francs (? $101.7 million) paid as retrocessions and other unjustified benefits.
- Invested Funds: Approximately $595 million (just over 500 million USD) of PIFSS assets were placed with Mirabaud & Cie.
- Money-Laundering Mechanics: 122 separate transfers totaling 76.9 million Swiss francs were routed through offshore shell companies in the Bahamas and intermediate accounts in Canada and Switzerland, using fraudulent consultancy contracts to conceal the source and ultimate beneficiaries of the funds.
Official Responses
Swiss federal prosecutors presented the indictment and highlighted the systematic nature of the kickbacks. The Federal Criminal Court, applying an accelerated procedure, endorsed the indictment filed by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland and imposed the suspended sentence, citing Mirabaud’s age, lack of prior convictions, and cooperation with investigators as mitigating factors. FINMA, Switzerland’s financial-market regulator, previously confiscated 12.7 million Swiss francs of unlawfully generated profits from Mirabaud & Cie for violations of financial-market law and anti-money-laundering obligations. Mirabaud’s legal counsel declined to comment, and the bank itself, not a party to the case, also declined to comment beyond stating that it had been fully cooperative with FINMA.
Implications for Swiss Banking Oversight
The case underscores persistent vulnerabilities in anti-corruption compliance within Swiss private banking, especially concerning sovereign-wealth-fund mandates. FINMA’s earlier confiscation and the court’s conviction signal a tightening of regulatory scrutiny, while the suspended nature of the sentence reflects Swiss practice of limiting incarceration when the risk of repeat offenses is deemed low. Observers note that the ruling may prompt further examinations of offshore structures used by Swiss banks to channel foreign public-sector money.
