Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei says Credit Suisse closing foundation’s bank account over ‘criminal record’
- The artist says he was told to move funds out of the account in Switzerland because of a new bank policy
- Ai was detained for 81 days in 2011, but says he has never been formally charged or convicted of a crime
Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei has said Credit Suisse told him it was closing his foundation’s bank account in Switzerland earlier this year citing his “criminal record” in China, despite the activist never being convicted of a crime.
One of China’s most high-profile artists and political activists, Ai, who now lives in Portugal, wrote in an opinion piece for website Artnet how he was first told by the Swiss bank that it would close the account in the spring of this year.
“Credit Suisse initially informed me that they had a new policy to terminate all bank accounts which are related to people with criminal records,” Ai told Reuters in an emailed statement, adding the foundation had been asked at the time to move the funds before September.
The bank declined to comment.
Ai helped design the 2008 Beijing Olympics’ famed Bird’s Nest stadium before falling foul of the communist government, which detained him for 81 days in 2011. He said he has never been formally charged or convicted of a crime.
Ai said Credit Suisse then called him on June 24 to say the bank would like to close the account, which belonged to a free speech and arts foundation he started in 2016, “as soon as possible”.
