Swiss prosecutors strive to explain 7-year delay to money-laundering probe

Swiss prosecutors are scrambling to explain why they took seven years to probe suspicions of money laundering aroused by data stolen from HSBC Holdings Plc's private bank in Geneva.

Inspired by Feb 8 disclosures by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that HSBC did business with arms dealers, blood-diamond traffickers and other criminals, Geneva prosecutors last week seized client records from the bank's offices in the city. That leaves the Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber defending years of inaction as federal prosecutors focused instead on apprehending the data thief Herve Falciani.

"I know this situation must look shocking," Lauber told weekly Swiss magazine L'Hebdo in an interview published on Feb 18. "But you have to understand the legal circumstances around this information are very delicate."