Insights | 14 August 2025
Private claimants in Swiss money laundering proceedings: unlocking evidence and freezing assets
Private claimants in Swiss criminal proceedings
Under Swiss law, individuals or companies directly harmed by a criminal offence qualify as aggrieved parties. This allows them to be considered as so-called private claimants (“Privatkläger” / “parties plaignantes”) in the criminal investigation. Private claimants are proper parties to the criminal proceedings and have extensive participation rights, including:
- accessing the case file;
- attending hearings;
- filing appeals; and
- submitting evidentiary requests.
Criminal prosecutions for money laundering in Switzerland
Article 305bis of the Swiss Criminal Code criminalises any act that may thwart the identification of the origin, tracing, or confiscation of assets, while knowing or having reason to assume that such assets stem from a felony or an aggravated tax misdemeanour.
- Penalties include a custodial sentence not exceeding five years (in serious cases) or a monetary penalty (para. 1 and 2).
- The perpetrator may also be convicted if the predicate offence was committed abroad and is punishable in the country where it was carried out (para. 3).
Essentially, money laundering is a separate and subsequent offence, which presupposes a prior, completed predicate offence. According to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, prohibited activities include consuming, destroying, or otherwise disposing of illicit assets in a way that thwarts their confiscation. Even the use (i.e., spending) of unlawfully obtained funds may qualify as money laundering — an interpretation that underscores how broadly the offence is construed.
The prohibition of money laundering primarily protects the public interest to confiscate the proceeds of crimes, i.e. the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system. However, according to Swiss Federal Supreme Court case law, it is also intended to protect the private pecuniary interests of any individuals or undertakings harmed by the predicate offence.
Unlocking evidence and freezing assets in money laundering proceedings
Any individual or undertaking whose financial interests have been directly harmed by a predicate offence in Switzerland (or abroad) may ask to participate as a private claimant in Swiss criminal proceedings for money laundering.
As repeatedly confirmed by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, this also applies in cases where the Swiss prosecution authorities exclusively investigate the suspected money laundering without investigating the predicate offence (e.g., when it was perpetrated abroad).
Intervening as a private claimant in Swiss money laundering investigations unlocks access to powerful tools for asset recovery purposes. These include the prosecution authorities’ coercive powers to trace and freeze assets – including abroad by way of mutual legal assistance. Since Swiss law does not prohibit the collateral use of evidence gathered in criminal investigations, this brings substantial value to asset recovery campaigns in complex international cases, often in support of parallel, separate (foreign) civil litigation.
To summarise – wherever there are suspicions of money laundering in Switzerland, the private claimant status constitutes an efficient and cost-effective tool that must be considered as part of a comprehensive asset-recovery strategy.
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