Swiss firm suspected of violating gold sanctions against Russia

Seco investigates Zug company in connection with sanctions against Russia

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The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) has launched an investigation into Open Mineral, a commodities trader based in Baar. The company is suspected of violating sanctions against Russia in relation to gold, Reuters reported on Friday.

This content was published on

September 20, 2025 – 11:50

Open Mineral allegedly traded the precious metal from Russia, violating sanctions against Moscow after the start of the military invasion of Ukraine.

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Contacted by the AWP news agency, the company confirmed it was under investigation. “Last week the authorities searched our premises as part of an investigation into business operations that took place in 2022.” The company announced that it had cooperated with the authorities and would continue to do so. Business activities continue as usual.

For its part, Seco confirmed to AWP that a house search took place on September 11 in the canton of Zug. “The proceedings are currently being directed against two people and against unknown persons,” a spokesman indicated. The subject of the investigation is possible violations of the law in connection with sanctions against Russia. Seco would not make any further statements on the ongoing proceedings.

Explainer: Why Switzerland remains a ‘big buyer’ of Russian gold

This content was published on

Sep 3, 2024

SWI swissinfo.ch explains how gold sustains Russia’s war effort and why Russian gold still finds its way to Switzerland.

Open Mineral opened its office in Switzerland in 2016 and started operations in 2017. The group has offices in 11 cities worldwide and is active in more than 50 countries.

Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac

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Swiss firm suspected of violating gold sanctions against Russia