Political consequences in Ticino and in Bern

A cantonal minister resigns

In Ticino the affair reached the cantonal government. Fabio Vassalli, a young member of the Council of State for the Christian Democratic People's Party (PPD), had entered the government in 1975 together with his party colleague Flavio Cotti. Vassalli had had dealings with Texon, which the sources describe as not in themselves implying serious responsibility. When the affair broke, he denied any involvement, but documents were then circulated that showed a connection, which a later cantonal account describes as real though minor. Under the pressure of the media and of the political climate, he resigned. He maintained in later years that he had committed no wrong and had yielded to pressure out of proportion to his role.¹ The English-language literature dates his resignation to 19 June 1977.²

The resignation had a further consequence. The candidates who followed Vassalli on the PPD list, some of them with links to the financial sector, renounced the succession in the climate of general suspicion. The party then proposed Fulvio Caccia, an engineer and director of the cantonal grammar school (liceo) in Lugano, who had not been on the list of candidates, precisely in order to present a new face without ties to the world of finance.³ The episode showed how closely politics and banking had become intertwined in a canton whose lawyers, fiduciaries and politicians often belonged to the same circles. It also showed that the public in Ticino, after two decades of prosperity based on Italian money, was no longer willing to accept that intertwining without question. Correctness and full transparency were demanded of politicians who might have conflicts of interest in finance.⁴

The National Council debate of 22 June 1977

At federal level, the National Council devoted most of its session of Wednesday, 22 June 1977, to the Chiasso affair. The debate comprised seventeen interventions. Speaking for the Federal Council, the head of the Federal Department of Finance, Georges-André Chevallaz, said that the government shared the "vives préoccupations" caused by the scandal and described it as "a Swiss affair whose weight we must bear". He rejected the view that banking secrecy was the main cause of the inflow of foreign money and announced a series of measures: a revision of the Banking Act, recognition of the agreement just signed by the banks, stronger powers for the Federal Banking Commission, a new law on international mutual assistance in criminal matters and a study of a special audit institution.⁵

The parliamentary groups used the debate to set out their positions. For the Social Democrats, the Zurich National Councillor Uchtenhagen demanded better control of the banks and proposed a motion for stricter supervision of financial institutions, which the Council accepted in the weaker form of a postulate by 86 votes to 56. For the Independents (Landesring der Unabhängigen), König, also of Zurich, called for full clarification to restore Switzerland's image, while conceding that crimes could be limited but never entirely prevented.⁶ The debate fixed the terms of the political argument for the next seven years. The left regarded Chiasso as proof that banking secrecy and the power of the big banks required constitutional limits, whereas the centre and right regarded it as a criminal case that self-regulation and better supervision could address.

Notes

1. Ente Ticinese per il Turismo, "Lo 'scandalo' di Chiasso" (above): Vassalli had entered the government in 1975 with his party colleague Flavio Cotti; he had had relations with Texon, denied them, was contradicted by documents attesting his participation ("non rilevante ma reale"), and resigned; he always maintained that he had committed no wrong and had yielded to disproportionate pressure. ↩
2. English Wikipedia, "Chiasso scandal", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiasso_scandal (used as a last resort for the date of 19 June 1977, which is based there on contemporary newspaper reports in the scriptorium.ch archive). ↩
3. Ente Ticinese per il Turismo, "Lo 'scandalo' di Chiasso" (above): the next candidates on the PPD list renounced, and "il giovane direttore del liceo di Lugano, l'ingegner Fulvio Caccia, che non era nella lista dei candidati" was called to the government "per dare un'immagine nuova, estranea al mondo dell'economia e della finanza". ↩
4. Ente Ticinese per il Turismo (above) ("Si chiedono correttezza e trasparenza assolute ai politici che potrebbero avere qualche collusione o conflitti di interesse nel ramo finanziario"). ↩
5. "L'affaire du Crédit Suisse au Conseil national", La Liberté (Fribourg), 22/23 June 1977, https://doc.rero.ch/record/282825/files/1977-06-23.pdf ("17 interventions"; Georges-André Chevallaz as "ministre des finances"; "Le Conseil fédéral révisera la loi sur les banques"; "projet de loi sur l'entraide judiciaire internationale en matière pénale"). ↩
6. La Liberté, 22/23 June 1977 (above) (motion of Mme Uchtenhagen accepted as a postulate by 86 votes to 56; statement of M. König; both identified as Zurich members, "soc/ZH" and "ind.-ZH"). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.