In early August, a confidential 37-page report was presented to the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees. It was the culmination of a sweeping months-long inquiry that had gripped one of the most visible institutions in the world of international policy and business — and centred on the man who built it.
Investigators led by Swiss law firm Homburger had scoured more than 100,000 emails, reviewed 65,000 further documents and questioned 59 current and former staff in 86 interviews, according to the report.
The intent was to determine whether Klaus Schwab, the forum’s 87-year-old founder, and his wife, Hilde, had turned the WEF into not only a private fiefdom but also a personal cash machine.