Pierre Mirabaud, former head of Switzerland’s banking lobby, was convicted of bribery and aggravated money laundering by the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on Tuesday. The court found that Mirabaud paid approximately SFr82 million ($101 million) to a Kuwaiti official in exchange for steering state pension assets to his bank.

Mirabaud, who served as president of the Swiss Bankers Association from 2003 to 2009, was a senior partner and later a consultant at Mirabaud, a private bank based in Geneva and one of Switzerland’s oldest financial institutions. The case focused on his dealings with Fahad Al-Rajaan, the former director-general of Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS). According to the court, Mirabaud provided the Kuwaiti official with improper payments to secure investments by PIFSS in funds managed partly by Mirabaud’s banking group. By the end of 2012, the Kuwaiti pension fund had $595.3 million invested in these funds.

In addition to bribery, Mirabaud was convicted of aggravated money laundering linked to 122 financial transfers totaling nearly SFr7 million. Prosecutors argued these transactions were designed to conceal the illicit origin of the payments and complicate efforts to recover them.

During the hearing, Mirabaud acknowledged the charges and described his conduct as a “very grave error of judgment.” He stated that he personally earned $1.8 million from the arrangement. The two-year suspended prison sentence was handed down under Switzerland’s simplified procedure, whereby the defendant accepts the facts and a proposed sentence.

Mirabaud was also ordered to pay SFr82,000 in legal and court costs and will be subject to a two-year probation period.

Fahad Al-Rajaan, who led the Kuwaiti pension fund for nearly 30 years, was previously convicted in Kuwait of corruption and embezzlement. He passed away in London in 2022.

The Mirabaud bank itself was not named as a defendant in the case. Mirabaud’s lawyer said the former banker cooperated fully with the authorities throughout the investigation, expressed acceptance of personal responsibility, and that the matter is now considered closed. The legal proceedings date back to investigations launched in 2012.