It's gone from bad to worse. I've written previously about how Brad Birkenfeld, the whistleblower who shattered 75 years of Swiss bank secrecy, is the only one going to jail in this multi-billion dollar scandal. But now my dyspepsia has turned to projectile vomiting. I have asked in previous diaries why, when the U.S. had UBS kingpin Martin Liechti in its claws, it set him scot-free back to Switzerland.
Well, we now know why. Consistent with a disturbing trend, the United States granted the worse of the worst immunity, and is imprisoning not just a bit player, but the whistleblower... and an American.
If you don't know about financial whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld already, then I recommend you watch this:
In Le Temps today, Switzerland's leading daily newspaper, http://www.bilan.ch/...
it states that Martin Liechti received immunity. I know it is in French, but the relevant part translates as follows:
Despite incriminating documents pointing to LEICHTI, he was granted immunity.
But the U.S. would have had nothing on Liechti (as evidenced by the fact that it searched his place some five years ago and couldn't make a case), but for Brad Birkenfeld, who blew the whistle on Liechti and other top UBS executives.
So, it is especially shocking to find that the U.S. granted immunity to Liechti, the mastermind, when it wouldn't grant immunity to Birkenfeld, and actually prosecuted him!
There is no justice. What can you do? Watch the YouTube video, rate it, and post a comment. Spread this wretched story.