Christoph Meili (born April 12, 1968) is a Swiss whistleblower. Early 1997, Meili worked as a night guard at the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in Zurich, Switzerland. He discovered that UBS destroyed Jewish credit balances, while it was required that those credit balances would be paid to the family members of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. On January 9, 1997, he took some bank files home. After a telephone consultation, he handed them over to a Jewish organisation, which brought the documents to the police. April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... A whistleblower is an employee, former employee, or member of an organization who reports misconduct to people or entities that have the power to take corrective action. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... UBS AG NYSE: UBS, (SWX: CH0012032030) TYO: 8657 is a financial services company, headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. ... UBS AG NYSE: UBS, (SWX: CH0012032030) TYO: 8657 is a financial services company, headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. ... Jews (Hebrew: יהודים, Yehudim) are followers of Judaism or, more generally, members of the Jewish people (also known as the Jewish nation, or the Children of Israel), an ethno-religious group descended from the ancient Israelites and converts who joined their religion at various times and locations. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ... January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Swiss authorities reacted with an arrest warrant against Christoph Meili, because they claimed banking secrecy had been damaged (i.e., the "rights" of the deceased account holders had been violated). Following this accusation, Meili escaped to the United States, which granted him political asylum. Later the arrest warrant was withdrawn, but Meili preferred (until 2004) not to return to his homeland. Christoph Meili is the only Swiss person who has yet received political asylum in the U.S. Power lines leading to a trash dump hover just overhead in El Carpio, a Nicaraguan refugee camp in Costa Rica Under international law, a refugee is a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Declaration of Meili for a Senate Commission