Daniel Thelesklaf is leaving his job as Switzerland's anti-money laundering head at the end of September, Swiss daily «Tages-Anzeiger» (behind paywall, in German) reported on Thursday. Last August, the veteran lawyer returned from Liechtenstein to Bern to take over at MROS, a special crime unit set up in 1998.

The outlet reported that his exit comes against the backdrop of a dispute with Nicoletta della Valle, who runs the Swiss police Fedpol, where MROS is attached organizationally. Thelesklaf told the newspaper that MROS and Fedpol disagreed on how best to adapt international standards, making his continuation in the role impossible.

The crime unit, an interface between banks and regulators on money laundering, has been beset with problems for years as Switzerland grapples with some of the biggest graft scandals worldwide: Petrobras, Odebrecht, 1MDB, and FIFA.  Thelesklaf's predecessor, 46-year-old ex-banker Stiliano Ordolli, also left abruptly, in 2018, amid reports of management issues.

Unit Walled Off

 The MROS is part of Switzerland's federal police arm, largely isolated from other agencies such as Swiss regulator Finma and intelligence authorities. Switzerland has lagged rival finance centers like Britain and Singapore in more closely linking up criminal and regulatory arms, as finews.com wrote.

Money laundering laws in Switzerland haven't been updated in more than 20 years. Walled into the federal police force, MROS is at arm's length from potential partner agencies like banking regulator Finma or the Swiss intelligence service.