The government of Switzerland stands publicly exposed of failure to ensure that criminal proceedings, started long ago in their national justice system, are carried through to a proper conclusion. There will no doubt be a string of official excuses for delay but Swiss incompetence and or negligence are unlikely to figure among them.

There is not even the flimsy excuse that Swiss nationals are entitled to a presumption of innocence since one of the two IMDB personalities under investigation/prosecution is an Arab national of some kind and the other, shameful to say, is British. So why the delay in processing the case and getting it to Court?  Worry that Swiss bankers or, worse, Switzerland itself will be publicly shown as complicit in the laundering of vast sums of stolen money?

Switzerland does not have a brilliant reputation when it comes to the handling of questionable money and it might have been expected that when a case of laundering of this size comes to light it would be anxious to be seen as taking proper action. There is no shortage of prosecutors or police in Switzerland. Only of diligence it seems.