Former Swiss banking chief faces trial in alleged Kuwaiti bribery case

A former voice of Swiss banking will face a corruption case in federal court in early September. Pierre Mirabaud, 77, former president of the Swiss Bankers Association, is due to appear before the Federal Criminal Court over alleged payments linked to Kuwait’s public pension institution. The case reaches beyond one banker’s conduct. It places a former industry representative at the centre of a prosecution involving public money, foreign officials and a Geneva private bank.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland opened its criminal investigation in 2021. Prosecutors are examining alleged offences dating from 2000 to 2012, a period when Mirabaud was a senior figure in the banking sector and later led the association from 2003 to 2009. The indictment alleges that he promised improper payments to the chairman of Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security, known as PIFSS.

Mirabaud has selected a simplified procedure before a single judge and admits the charges, according to Keystone-SDA. The OAG has requested a 24-month suspended prison sentence. The court must still assess the case and determine the legal consequences. The proceedings will test how Swiss authorities handle alleged corruption involving private banking relationships formed years ago and funds belonging to a foreign public institution.

The indictment centres on CHF 82 million in alleged kickbacks and roughly CHF 400 million in Kuwaiti funds. Prosecutors allege that Mirabaud promised improper payments totalling CHF 82 million to the PIFSS chairman. In return, the Kuwaiti official allegedly entrusted Geneva-based Mirabaud with a portion of the institution’s assets, valued at $500 million, or about CHF 400 million.

Those figures describe the alleged mechanism of the case. A senior official responsible for a public institution’s funds allegedly directed assets to a Swiss private bank while expecting substantial payments. The indictment does not describe an ordinary advisory mandate or a routine client referral. It alleges a transaction built around influence over public money.

The amounts also show the commercial stakes for a private bank. The alleged kickbacks represented more than one fifth of the approximately CHF 400 million in funds at issue. The source report does not provide a full account of the alleged payment route, the identities of any intermediaries or the precise dates of individual transfers. Those details will matter as the court reviews the charges.

Mirabaud has already paid CHF 42 million to compensate PIFSS. That payment is significant to the case’s financial dimension, but it does not by itself resolve the criminal allegations. The court will examine the conduct described in the indictment and the legal responsibility attached to it.

The case combines foreign bribery with an aggravated money-laundering charge. The OAG has charged Mirabaud with bribing foreign public officials and with aggravated money laundering. The alleged recipient was the chairman of PIFSS, Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security, which manages public funds. That connection gives the proceedings a direct public-interest dimension for both Kuwait and Switzerland.

Swiss law enforcement began investigating in 2021, several years after the alleged conduct ended in 2012. Long timelines are common in complex financial crime cases, where investigators may need to reconstruct transactions, ownership structures and relationships across jurisdictions. The report does not detail the investigative steps or identify other suspects. It does establish that the OAG considers the alleged conduct serious enough to bring charges before the Federal Criminal Court.

Mirabaud’s decision to use a simplified procedure changes the shape of the trial. He admits the charges, and a single judge will hear the case. The procedure can allow a court to resolve proceedings more efficiently when the accused accepts the prosecution’s account, while the judge retains responsibility for the legal decision and sentence.

The OAG’s request for a suspended 24-month prison term reflects its position, not the court’s final ruling. Until judgment, the court must determine the applicable penalties and any further financial consequences under Swiss law.