The Volcker Committee has traced 2,626 accounts in Swiss banks that are registered in the names of 1,622 German war criminals and other prominent Nazis. This was disclosed in the commission’s report, published yesterday.
The committee’s auditors cross-referenced the list of bank customers in the relevant period (1933-45) with the names of 1,934 prominent individuals in Nazi Germany. This list was compiled on the basis of papers from the National Archives in Washington, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the Roosevelt Library. The accounts were discovered in the two major banks, UBS and Credit Suisse (833), canton banks (1,754), and private banks (39).
The Volcker Committee forwarded its findings on the subject to the Independent Committee of Experts on Swiss policy in World War II, headed by Jean-Francois Bergier. The committee notes that these accounts may have contained looted assets, although, in absence of full documentation, there is no certainty as to their content.
The Bergier Committee was also asked to check preliminary findings by the Volcker Committee relating to accounts opened by Holocaust victims through brokers. The Volcker Committee compared the general list of accounts with the names of more than 2,000 Swiss nationals (mainly lawyers) who might have served as brokers, and found 34,401 accounts registered in their names.
The Volcker committee notes that some of the accounts may, of course, have belonged to the lawyers themselves. Also, where the accounts are in fact registered in the names of these lawyers merely for cover purposes, there is no knowing for whom they were acting.
The auditors also reported using other methods to trace another 1,688 accounts, that may have been registered in brokers’ names. It is fairly certain, however, that not even the Bergier Committee will be able to reach any real conclusions in this matter, which is of great importance in determining the volume of Holocaust victims’ deposits.
Another chapter of the report describes the handling of claims in respect of 5,570 names of account holders already published by the banks. An international tribunal operating with full independence alongside the Volcker Committee is processing these claims. Its members include judges (emeritus) Zvi Tal and Hadassah Ben-Ito; former Bank Leumi general manager David Friedman; and Mivtahim chairman Doron Shorer.
The committee reports that by November 15 1999, 9,778 applications were received in relation to 2,500 of the accounts [published. The Tribunal approved 1,281 claims, and directed the banks to repay to claimants SF 23 million out of the SF 66 million discovered in all the accounts. The two amounts are nominal, and it is not known whether the Tribunal ordered payment of ten times the nominal amounts in order to arrive at real values.
The Tribunal rejected 5,415 claims and referred 554 to arbitration. The Tribunal’s appellate instance rejected 47 appeals on decisions to reject the claims. Further claims, whose number was not reported, are still pending. The Volcker committee estimates that the processing of the most complex claims will be completed by mid-2000.
Published by Israel's Business Arena December 7, 1999