Initial findings from an investigation into World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab’s conduct at the organization he led for more than 50 years appear to support allegations that he manipulated economic reports published by the forum and submitted unjustifiably high expenses, Switzerland’s SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday.
According to excerpts seen by the newspaper, law firm Homburger found that Schwab repeatedly intervened to influence country rankings in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report for political purposes, the newspaper reported, citing excerpts it had seen. In one 2017 email to then-managing director Richard Samans, Schwab allegedly requested that the report be withheld to avoid straining his relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, due to the country’s poor performance in the ranking, SonntagsZeitung said. Schwab also advised against improving the UK’s place to prevent it being exploited by the supporters of Brexit, the newspaper said.
