Swiss War Materiel and Arms Exports

Back to the list

Balkan weapons for war zones through Swiss dealers

Goods category: War materiel

US Marines escorting Iraqi prisoners of war, 21 March 2003.

Public Domain – US Marine Corps

Amnesty International and TransArms documented Swiss arms dealers’ involvement in a procurement network for Balkan weapons destined for Iraq and Afghanistan. The report describes gaps in transport and end-use documentation. In the Bosnian part of the network, Swiss arms dealer Marius Joray from Laufen confirmed indirect involvement. The exports concerned, in 2004–2005, were declared as destined for Iraq. Talon Security Consulting and Trade, an Israeli company within Swiss arms dealer Heinrich Thomet’s business network, brokered weapons from Serbia and Montenegro for the US company Taos’s Iraq deals. Amnesty International documented the brokerage in 2006. Talon was led by Shmuel Avivi, the former Israeli military attaché in Switzerland. Swiss preliminary enquiries into possible violations of the War Materiel Act were discontinued for lack of sufficient suspicion. Thomet denied bribery; a corresponding charge against Avivi was dropped in Israel as part of a procedural agreement. The Israeli indictment against Shmuel Avivi in February 2011 concerned, among other things, a Toyota Land Cruiser described as a gift and a payment of 30’000 Swiss francs to his wife. The bribery charge was dropped as part of a procedural agreement. Heinrich Thomet denied bribery.

Effect of the proposed War Materiel Act revision

Under the new Article 22b, the Federal Council could depart from all the licensing criteria in Article 22a under vaguely defined ‘exceptional circumstances’. The public would not have to be informed. The Federal Council could add Iraq and Afghanistan to Annex 2 by amending the War Materiel Ordinance. This would remove the exclusion criterion based on participation in an armed conflict and make approval the rule. The Federal Council could refuse a licence only in exceptional cases. Article 18 paragraph 1 would abolish non-re-export declarations in the vast majority of cases. Weapons for Iraq and Afghanistan could thus easily be supplied through a subsidiary or intermediary in a third country. For example, the following states could serve as third countries, having supplied substantial quantities of war materiel in recent years according to SIPRI: Iraq: United States (3’948 million TIV); Afghanistan: United States (2’713 million TIV).

Countries

Conflicts

Companies

Time period

Transactions before the 2006 Amnesty report; subsequent procedural inquiries

Sources