Switzerland Affidavits Affair (b/w photo)

The bankers and lawyers accused of falsifying affidavits at the main trial of the Federal Criminal Court in Lausanne in 1950. In the affidavit affair, twelve persons known in the public and economic life of French-speaking Switzerland were accused. In the first row, the photograph shows the defendants (from left to right) Ernest Challamel, Henri Calpini, Henri Leuzinger, Alexandre Petitpierre, Marcel Capt, Robert Bersier and Michel Peretti; the lawyer Denys Zermatten, who is also accused, sits in the drawing stand. So-called affidavits existed since 1940 and were declarations that could be attached to securities and proved the uninterrupted Swiss ownership of the title since the outbreak of war. Since the outbreak of war, Swiss bankers have been guilty of forging affidavits.