ZURICH (Reuters) -Two Swiss lawmakers asked prosecutors to examine whether gifts by Swiss business leaders to U.S. President Donald Trump – including a Rolex watch and a gold bar – violated Switzerland’s anti-bribery laws, although a source close to the delegation said they complied with the laws of both countries.
Switzerland this month struck a framework agreement with the U.S. to cut a 39% tariff on Swiss goods to 15%. The deal came 10 days after a delegation of Swiss business leaders visited Trump in the Oval Office, bearing the gifts.
“The gifts were presented to the Presidential Library on behalf of the group who attended the meeting, in full compliance with both U.S. and Swiss law,” a person close to the business delegation told Reuters, adding that the presents were cleared with the White House ethics counsel.
Raphael Mahaim and Greta Gysin, both Green Party members of parliament, said in a letter to the public prosecutor that the legality of the gifts should be assessed by the judicial system.
“The end does not justify all means, especially when respect for important provisions of our legal order is at stake,” they wrote, asking the prosecutor to determine whether the gifts violated the Swiss Criminal Code. The public prosecutor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Executives of MSC, Rolex, Partners Group, Mercuria, Richemont and MKS took part in the meeting with Trump, according to a statement seen by Reuters.
Rolex and MKS declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When asked for comment, Alfred Gantner, a co-founder of Partners Group who attended the meeting, said public–private collaboration had delivered a much-needed resolution to the Swiss-U.S. tariff dispute.
The other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under Swiss law, any person can report an offence to a criminal justice authority, which then decides whether criminal proceedings are initiated.
It is unclear whether the prosecutor will open a proceeding. Mahaim said he does not expect legal consequences for the tariff deal of any future finding by the judicial system.
Offering a foreign public official an “undue advantage” to influence a decision can carry up to five years in prison or a fine. The lawmakers’ letter listed the gifts but did not name which companies or individuals presented them.
(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Ariane Luthi in Zurich; Editing by Ros Russell and Bill Berkrot)
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