The Taxcast looks at the battle for freedom of the press in Switzerland and the implications for the rest of the world. Investigative journalists like Bastian Obermayer risks arrest, fines and imprisonment if he sets foot in Switzerland again, and Swiss journalists are having to turn away strong public interest stories - for fear of not just rich and powerful people coming after them, but also the Swiss state. Switzerland's always been famous for its banking secrecy laws and it's never been the friendliest place for investigative journalists. Now the situation threatens to get even worse.
Featuring:
- Bastian Obermayer, one of the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalists who broke the Panama Papers story and many other groundbreaking scandals.
- Swiss investigative journalist, Oliver Zihlmann, co-head of the Investigative Unit at Tamedia, the leading publishing and broadcast media company in Switzerland.
- Policy and advocacy manager at Reporters Without Borders Switzerland, Valentin Rubin
- Hosted by Naomi Fowler and co-produced with Leo Schick.
Transcript of the show available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Criminalising-Journalists_-Script.pdf
Further reading:
Suisse Secrets https://www.occrp.org/en/project/suisse-secrets
Bastian Obermayer: 'In Switzerland, I face prison – for exposing wrongdoing.' https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bastian-obermayer-9ba8805b_we-investigate-corruption-swiss-law-calls-activity-7316409781127159808-EgfS/
US overtakes Switzerland in global ranking of financial secrecy hotbeds https://taxjustice.net/press/financial-secrecy-index-2020-reports-progress-on-global-transparency-but-backsliding-from-us-cayman-and-uk-prompts-call-for-sanctions/
Tax Justice Network's Financial Secrecy Index https://fsi.taxjustice.net/
Swiss Government Motions for Press Freedom in Country’s Finance Sector https://www.occrp.org/en/news/swiss-government-motions-for-press-freedom-in-countrys-finance-sector
Swiss parliamentarians refuse to overhaul banking secrecy laws https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-banking-secrecy-law-clashes-with-freedom-of-speech/47365724