Online claims that Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has been arrested in Switzerland are false, authorities have told Reuters.
Early appearances of the claim can be traced back to Nov. 12 on The Conservative Beaver (here), a Canadian website previously fact-checked by Reuters (here). It has since been repeated on messaging boards, Facebook (here), Twitter (here), and multiple other websites (here , here).
According to the initial article, Swiss police arrested Schwab at his home in Cologny on Nov. 12 following a complaint from Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency – and he was later charged with “multiple counts of fraud”.
However, spokespersons for both Switzerland’s federal police department and Europol told Reuters that these claims are not true.
Moreover, Europol highlighted that such a case – if it existed – would fall outside the agency’s mandate.
As the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL), its role is to support EU Member States in their own investigations into organised crime.
Switzerland is not a member of the EU.
VERDICT
False. Swiss police have not arrested Klaus Schwab, nor has Europol made any such complaint.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.