#712 Jubiläums-Top 5 – Platz 1: Inside Paradeplatz gegen Pierin Vincenz – Interview mit Lukas Hässig

·35 min·3 clips

Journalist Lukas Hässig faces a criminal probe after his platform Inside Paradeplatz exposed Swiss banking secrets.

1. Auf dem Weg als Anwält:in re-broadcasts a 2022 interview with Lukas Hässig, founder of Inside Paradeplatz, after his offices were raided in June 2025. 2. Host Turi Bonin is a Swiss lawyer and podcaster; Lukas Hässig is the investigative journalist who founded the Swiss financial news platform Inside Paradeplatz. 3. The episode frames a 2022 conversation as newly urgent because the June 2025 house search at Hässig's editorial and private premises by the Zurich state attorney raises questions about media freedom and bank secrecy in Switzerland. 4. Bonin introduces the rebroadcast by noting the case touches criminal law, media freedom, and personal legal risk simultaneously. 5. Hässig describes himself as 'a loser' who left or was cut from Radio 24, Finance and Economy, Sunday Zeitung, Facts, Bilanz, and Weltwoche — typically on a two-year cycle. 6. After losing his Weltwoche position, he became a freelancer and launched Inside Paradeplatz on November 23, 2011 — initially called Bankreporter before finding its name. 7. His first article was an analysis of Sergio Ermotti's start at UBS; 500 people read it on day one, which he still cannot explain. 8. Hässig attributes his short, punchy style to his Radio 24 training, where copy had to make sense at the headline level alone. 9. Beat Stocker, who was also a podcast guest, confirmed to Bonin that the Vincenz-Stocker case was an important boost for Inside Paradeplatz. 10. The Vincenz story began in April 2016, built through May with a hint about iFinance and secret withdrawals, and reached a turning point in July 2016 when a large volume of leaked data arrived. 11. Hässig never directly states the nature of the leaked data, saying only 'I had information and worked with that information' and 'I never say anything about it and never will.' 12. He called Vincenz on April 4th before publishing, received a text saying Vincenz was traveling, then pressed him on the 2.9 million CHF Stocker payment — and Vincenz replied with an angry text threatening to involve the bank and lawyers. 13. Hässig describes Vincenz's text as sounding 'like a car in Ticino' — the phrasing of someone with something to hide — and noted it left documentary traces. 14. The Swiss whistleblower problem is raised: unlike some other jurisdictions, Switzerland tends to prosecute the source rather than protect them, as illustrated by the Hildebrandt case where a bank technician and a lawyer ended up in legal jeopardy. 15. Comparing his three major stories — Vasella's 72 million CHF bonus in 2013, Vincenz in 2016, and the Credit Suisse spy case in 2019 — Hässig uses mountain metaphors: Vasella was well-timed to the management salary initiative vote, Vincenz was a 4000-meter Alpine climb, and the Khan case was a speed race. 16. On the Khan/Credit Suisse spy case, Hässig received the tip at Migros on a Friday morning, wrote the article in real time, and received state attorney confirmation at the exact moment he finished the piece. 17. FAZ published a well-sourced piece on the same evening, which Hässig says confirmed the story had genuine international reach. 18. The episode is conversational and detailed, with Bonin playing an informed legal interlocutor who occasionally pushes Hässig on source ethics and legal risk. 19. Swiss legal professionals, financial journalists, and people following the Credit Suisse and Raiffeisen scandal timelines will find the episode most substantive. 20. Listeners without familiarity with Swiss financial institutions, the Vincenz affair, or Swiss media law will find significant context missing.

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