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World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab has launched a criminal complaint against the whistleblowers whose accusations led to his ousting, as he steps up a campaign to clear his name of alleged impropriety at the organisation he led for more than half a century.
Schwab, who established the WEF in 1971, stepped down last month after its board launched a probe into his conduct following an anonymous letter that claimed he had received inappropriate financial benefits, manipulated research and mishandled sexual harassment cases.
The authors threatened to go public with their accusations if Schwab remained in his role as chair of the forum’s board of trustees.
The 87-year-old insisted he would fight the “stupid and constructed” allegations, telling the Financial Times his lawyers had filed a complaint for defamation and coercion — both criminal offences in Switzerland — with the public prosecutor in Geneva, a step that requires the police to open a preliminary investigation.
His move complicates a difficult transition period for the WEF as it seeks to maintain its signature annual event in the Swiss ski resort of Davos as the must-attend gathering for the global elite.
“We will have this public prosecutor investigation now, we don’t know how aggressive they will be,” said Schwab from his home in Geneva. “If they find a systemic attempt to undermine my reputation this won’t be comfortable for the board.”
The public prosecutor in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The WEF declined to comment on Schwab’s legal action, saying it was “a matter apparently directed privately against unknown whistleblowers”.
The probe prompted by the whistleblower letter is the second independent investigation into the WEF’s culture in less than a year. While the first, concluded in March, failed to substantiate employees’ claims of workplace discrimination and harassment, it did identify management issues that failed to meet established standards — although it has not disclosed what they were.
The latest whistleblower accusations include that Schwab misused forum funds, manipulated the organisation’s annual competitiveness report to curry favour with certain governments and asked staff to promote him for the Nobel Peace Prize. The letter also raised concerns over how the WEF and its leadership treated female employees, and claimed sexual harassment had been tolerated under Schwab’s leadership.
Schwab denies all accusations against him but conceded that the episode had prompted contemplation over his and his wife’s financial affairs.
He said he had forgone a SFr5mn bonus payment, that his salary had not been adjusted for inflation over many years and that his wife had worked with no pay for decades. He added that when expenses such as hotel massages had been paid by the WEF, he had always refunded the money, with his assistant keeping track of such spending.
Asked what he could have done differently, he said he would have had a more “straightforward and clearer arrangement” with regards to his and his wife’s remuneration, and that he would have encouraged his two children to pursue independent careers instead of working at the forum.
“For me it was like a family enterprise, and you don’t take money out of the family enterprise . . . Maybe that was a mistake,” he said, adding that he had taken the original financial risk and still saw the WEF as his “baby”.
Schwab, who stepped down as executive chair before the first investigation but remained as chair of the board of trustees until last month, said he was “not afraid of the results” of the latest probe. However, he described the prospect as distressing, saying he had “suffered, frankly during the first one, because you feel like a defendant for nine months, and it’s not pleasant”.
He rejected the idea that he should have stepped down earlier as he remained in “good physical and mental health”. He accepted his “time was over” at the WEF, saying he was “not sad to have left”, but added that while it might be good that his departure “was decisive . . . it should have been harmonious”.
Schwab now intends to focus on his writing, including memoirs he said had been fast-tracked and a book on retirement and longevity in “the intelligent age”.
But he said even if the situation between him and the board reached a mutually satisfactory resolution, “I would not go to the next meeting in Davos. It has to be the new team, which has to show it can run Davos. I am looking forward to being in the Seychelles or somewhere else.”
