Rejection of the Disclosure of Bank Documents in the Context of a Request for Mutual Legal Assistance from Australia

Facts

The Australian authorities requested Switzerland for criminal mutual legal assistance in connection with investigations against two Australian citizens, [X.] and [Y.] . The investigations concerned the suspicion that [X.] and [Y.] had not disclosed their participation in shares of the company [O.] Ltd. as required by law. There was also a suspicion that they had made false statements during questioning by the Australian authorities.

The Swiss authorities ordered the disclosure of bank documents to the Australian authorities, including accounts of Bank [A.] at Bank [D.] . Against this, Bank [A.] filed an administrative court appeal.

Considerations

The SFSC dismissed the appeal. It stated that while the violation of the reporting obligation under Swiss law was time-barred, the Swiss authorities were not obliged to examine the statute of limitations under the law of the requesting state in the context of mutual legal assistance. The lower court had rightly not exercised the discretion available to it regarding the optional ground for refusal of the statute of limitations.

Furthermore, the SFSC considered the disclosure of the bank…