It’s not just American authorities who are skeptical of Edward Snowden’s story as reported by Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian.
Swiss President Ueli Maurer said he doubts Snowden’s tall tail about participating in a CIA operation to intoxicate and compromise a Swiss banker and indicated that Swiss authorities may launch a criminal probe if prosecutors feel it is necessary.
(Reuters) – Swiss President Ueli Maurer said on Sunday he doubted Edward Snowden’s claims about his activities as a CIA man in Geneva and would back a criminal investigation into the secrets leaker if Swiss prosecutors called for one. [...]
“It does not seem to me that it is likely that this incident played out as it has been described by Snowden and by the media,” Maurer was quoted as saying in the Der Sonntag and SonntagsBlick newspapers.
“This would mean that the CIA successfully bribed the Geneva police and judiciary. With all due respect, I just can’t imagine it,” SonntagsBlick quoted him as saying.
He added that Snowden was just 23 at the time, and unlikely to have had knowledge of such an operation, and that the CIA usually dealt with terrorism rather than financial espionage.
If it’s true that Snowden’s drunken Swiss banker story was a fabrication or an exaggeration, the list of things he has been entirely honest about will become very short.
Either way, Snowden’s revelations are unlikely to produce dramatic change right here in America, but they could complicate relations with other nations.