The Swiss Services Scandal, Explained
For everyone who tuned in to the fifth episode of Hawa El 7orriyeh on Monday night, you might have seen the fiery debate moderated by Joe Maalouf, between the founder of Swiss Services, Omar Allaf, and the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon’s fundraising manager Nisrine Tannous.
How It Started
In September 2018, many of us started spotting individuals or teams of two dressed in a white lab coat, emblazoned with the Swiss coat of arms. These sales representatives also carried a duffel bag with the same coat of arms.
The bag contained toothbrushes allegedly made in Switzerland, and they were being sold for 5000 LBP.
Soon, the stories didn’t seem to hold up, and that’s when someone finally broke their silence and confronted one of the sales reps at a popular bar on Badaro Street in Beirut. Yorgui Teyrouz then went on Facebook to share his concerns and skepticism about Swiss Services.
The sales rep wasn’t able to hold up to the line of questions directed to her, questions such as are you a volunteer an employee, is Swiss Services a company or an NGO, is the money really going to the CCCL and do you actually have a partnership with them.
Soon after a status was published, dozens of comments started to pop up stating that the sales reps said different things to them, from children’s cancer, to breast cancer and lesser known NGOs.
CCCL Refuted Partnership Claims
After the show contacted CCCL, their spokesperson indicated that they were aware of Swiss Services’ activities, and that no partnership existed between them and Swiss Services (SS). SS had hoped to do a collaboration, but CCCL rejected because it was not in line with the center’s fundraising strategy: they never go around selling products or gathering donations from on the street, to pubbers and restaurant goers, and even reports from people visiting to Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa.
These concerns were raised live on air last night by CCCL fundraising manager Nisrine Tannous, that stated that a personal donation in the name of the founder was made, 1000 USD in cash. (Allaf had falsely stated on air that it was paid in check)
Swiss Embassy Statement
Given that the company was using the word “Swiss” and the official coat of arms of the Government of Switzerland, we reached out to the Swiss Embassy in Beirut, and they provided the following statement by Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon, Ms. Elisabeth Gilgen.
“The Embassy of Switzerland has been informed about the activities of a group operating under the name “Swiss Services” and using the shield-shaped Swiss coat of arms, a symbol strictly reserved for the Swiss State. “Swiss Services” has no connection whatsoever to the Government of Switzerland and does not fulfill the strict legal criteria for using the name “Swiss”. The Embassy has informed the relevant Lebanese authorities and will continue to monitor the situation.”
— Elisabeth Gilgen, Deputy Head of Mission, Swiss Embassy in Beirut
This confirmed that Swiss Services has no relation whatsoever to Switzerland, or operates outside of Lebanon. The Facebook “About” page of Swiss Services stated that since Lebanon is sometimes referred to as “the switzerland of the middle east” they decided to call the company Swiss Services.
Why This Is Wrong
The sheer amount of complaints and comments given, the large scope of operation and frankly, very little evidence or details about what Swiss Services does with the money they make, claiming it’s to support a multitude of charitable causes, such as CCCL and others.
The CCCL emails dating back to September 2018 also confirm that the company had no right to use their name while their sales reps were pitching the toothbrush. The Swiss Embassy statement also proves that this is not a Swiss initiative or company, but a local one using the Swiss State’s name and symbol without permission and illegally.
This is wrong because the misleading was obviously intentional and systematic across a period of months and all across Beirut and surrounding areas. Approaching someone on a date that’s had a couple of drinks with a 5000 LBP toothbrush to help children with cancer is a dishonest way of making quick cash, and it abuses people’s humanitarian impulse by unjustly abusing the CCCL’s name after they were expressly not given permission to.
That’s just unacceptable, and I hope the Lebanese authorities move to further investigate this and put a stop to such practices.
Allaf claims that this was a mistake, and that his company is doing a lot of good work in rural parts of Lebanon. I will investigate these claims if they ever materialize, and I will keep you all posted. However, their work so far has been extremely flawed, unethical and outright illegal in many respects.
