Wednesday of the 5th Week of Lent
Dan 3:14-20,24-25,28
Jn 8:31-42
“If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free”
1986: Fake names for Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos – implicated and fined
1999: Japanese ‘shredding party’ – Destroyed key investigation evidence – fined and licence revoked
2000: Funds linked to Nigerian Dictator – reprimanded
2004: Money laundering for the Japanese Yakuza – investigated and sanctioned
2009: US Sanctions breaches – Fined for dealing with Iran and Sudan
2011: German Tax Evasion – Settled with a fine
2012: US sub-prime Bond Fraud – Charged, fined, employee jailed
2014: US tax evasion – fined
2016: Italian tax evasion – investigated and settled
2016: US Anti-money laundering – fined
2017: 1MDB anti-money-laundering – fined
2017: European tax evasion – fined
2018: Weak anti-money-laundering Controls linked to dealings with Petrobras, PDVSA and FIFA – fined
2018: Lescaudron fraud – employee jailed
2018: Hong Kong – jobs-for-business scandal – fined
2019: Corporate espionage – sanctioned
2020: Bulgarian drug trafficking – on-going trial
2021: Archegos collapse – sanctioned
2021: Greensill scandal – loss of investor funds, on-going
2021: Mozambique tuna bonds – fined
2022: Swiss Secrets data leak
2022: Bulgarian cocaine money-laundering – fined
2023: ‘Material weakness’ in Financial Statements
- Source: The Guardian and Morningstar, Inc.
One might be guessing this must be list of issues highlighted against the Italian mafia or the Japanese yakuza. It is not!
Along all these issues of misrepresentation, concealing the truth and fraud, runs 1 common thread – the absence of truth.
Why do we conceal the truth? Greed maybe, but mostly because of fear. Fear of facing up to the truth and accepting the consequences.
No one who runs away from the truth can be really free. We might try to numb our conscience, but there will always be days when you’re sitting alone in the plane or while waiting for someone when the fear would return to haunt you.
Depression sets in, in some form, and slowly consumes you. From the list above, Lescaudron sadly took his life.
The reality about sin, forgiveness, salvation, and Heaven needs to be deeply known and embraced.
Brothers and sisters, living within a lie leaves us bound by that lie. It is only when we embrace the spiritual truth entirely that we can aspire for salvation and eternity in Heaven.
Above were some of the issues faced by Credit Suisse in the last few decades. Credit Suisse, until recently was the second largest Swiss bank with a 167 year-long of history.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Gerard Francis)
Prayer: We pray to ‘know the truth and for the truth to set us free’.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks for our gift of Jesus – the one true way to God.
OXYGEN 
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