Dirty Money? Someone is flushing €500 notes in Geneva’s toilet

Swiss prosecutors are trying to figure out why someone apparently attempted to flush tens of thousands of euros down the toilet at a Geneva branch of UBS Group AG. 

The first 500-euro ($597) bills were discovered several months ago in a bathroom close to a bank vault containing hundreds of safe deposit boxes, according to a report in Tribune de Geneve confirmed by the city prosecutor’s office. A few days later, more banknotes turned up in toilets at three nearby restaurants, requiring thousands of francs in plumbing repairs to unclog the pipes.

A lawyer for the women appeared at a local police station, according to the Tribune de Genève, but only offered money to pay for plumbing work at the UBS branch and the three restaurants.

“The damage amounted to several thousand [Swiss] francs,” one source told the swiss newspaper, which said the lawyer had not explained why the money had been stuffed down the toilet.

It is not an offence to destroy banknotes in Switzerland, but a spokesperson for the Geneva prosecutor’s office said the circumstances of the case warranted further investigation.

UBS, which discovered the notes at its branch on the Rue de la Corraterie, declined to comment.