A UBS Group AG representative said he was “shocked” that witnesses have described the bank as a mafia-like organization, with its French branch in Paris accused of harassing its former employee.
“I don’t work for a mafia-style company,” said Régis Turrini, now president of UBS Europe’s French branch, in preliminary remarks on the stand Wednesday. “You can’t make accusations like that.”
Turrini was speaking on behalf of the bank on the second day of a criminal trial looking into allegations of harassment more than a decade ago, as former employees lifted the lid on UBS’s efforts to help France’s wealthy avoid taxes. Turrini was not at the bank at the time of the allegations. UBS has denied wrongdoing.
UBS France – as the unit was known in the investigation – is accused of sidelining and cutting the bonus of former auditor Nicolas Forissier and is also suspected of punishing Stéphanie Gibaud, who was in charge of organizing events for wealthy clients. The statements referred to by Turrini were made on Tuesday by the witnesses called to testify by Forissier.
The French legal saga has been going on for more than 15 years. It culminated in a money laundering conviction for the Swiss bank as part of a separate prosecution effort stemming from the Forissier report. That case is not entirely over after France’s Supreme Court said last year that UBS had been fined 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion). needs to be re-examinedopening the door to a possible cut.
On Wednesday, Turrini tried to keep the court debate focused on the harassment allegations, rather than the parallel case in which UBS France was also convicted for its role in helping wealthy Swiss bankers illegally hire French prospects. But the presiding judge insisted on connecting the two—he asked twice if Forissier’s efforts contributed to the conviction.
“I do not know the case file that led to the verdict,” said the representative of UBS. “I’m focused on the harassment case.”
Forissier’s lawyer, William Bourdon, later asked Turrini if he thought his client was right to blow the whistle.
“Mr. Forissier did what he thought in good conscience. I don’t know if that benefited the bank,” said Turrini. “I see that if I had been an auditor I would have carried out my duties as well as possible, and that is certainly what Mr. Forissier did.”
Finally, Bourdon asked if Turrini would have a word for Forissier, given the ordeal the affair had been for him.
“I don’t think Nicolas Forissier is the victim in this case,” the bank representative replied. Turrini said he does not see harassment in the evidence presented against the French branch and also denied a second allegation that UBS France tried to silence Forissier.
The trial will continue until the middle of next week, with a verdict expected a few months later.
(Updates with further statements from the UBS representative beginning in the sixth paragraph)
