A 15-year-old dispute between the Jewish Agency and Swiss banking and legal interests, involving vast millions of Swiss francs deposited secretly in Swiss banks by European Jews who were later murdered by the Nazis, is expected to reach a new stage this week, according to a report from Bern in the London press.
Jewish sources, according to the report, claim that the sums involved reach “hundreds of millions” of Swiss francs. According to the Bern report, however, these claims are “exaggerated” and also without value, since the banks do not know which of its clients may be agents for Jewish depositors. On the other hand, says the report, another figure, of 10,000,000 francs, is “probably far too low.”
This week, according to the Bern report, the Swiss Minister of Justice will be handed a new bill, directing all banks, insurance companies, lawyers and agents for private persons to report confidentially to the Government about all foreign assets left unclaimed in their hands. The driving force behind the plan, says the report, is Eran Laor, European financial director for the Jewish Agency.
One of Mr. Laor’s arguments, reportedly, is that a precedent was established by the Swiss Government in 1946, when it ordered confidential reports filed about all financial holdings of Germans and Austrians. That move enabled the identification of assets belonging to Nazi war criminals. Now, it is said, Mr. Laor will claim the 1946 order is a precedent, making possible the registration of assets left by Jews who had been murdered by the Nazis.
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