Klaus Schwab allegedly altered countries’ rankings in important economic reports to avoid affecting relationships with India, and to prevent Brexit supporters from being able to use positive figures for the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, extensive expenses of 900,000 Swiss francs that his wife charged through WEF are being scrutinized.
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab is accused of manipulating the organization’s prestigious “Global Competitiveness Report” for political reasons. According to an ongoing investigation, he changed countries’ rankings to protect diplomatic relationships and thereby prevent the results from being used politically, reports the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
Changed to protect India relations
The serious incident occurred in 2017-2018 when a methodology change caused India to fall over 20 places in the ranking while the United Kingdom climbed from seventh to fourth place. Schwab then intervened directly and emailed those responsible with the justification: “We must protect our relationships with India before Davos 2019”.
He did not want to risk Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi canceling his visit. At the same time, he wrote that the United Kingdom “must not see any improvement” because this would be “exploited by the Brexit camp”.
Despite Schwab saying he supported the new methodology, he concluded: “This year we simply cannot implement this”. Otherwise, the good relationships with India, which he had “invested so much in during the year”, would be destroyed.
The report was eventually published, but with altered figures: India ended up in 40th place and the United Kingdom in eighth place – both only one place worse than in 2016.
Shared secret reports with governments
Even more serious is that Schwab in 2022 allegedly shared a secret draft of the report with a government representative from an Arab country whose ranking had deteriorated significantly. After receiving “critical feedback”, Schwab recommended to management that the report not be published at all.
The 2021-2022 report was never published, and no new versions have appeared since then.
Wife’s expenses without official role
In parallel, Schwab’s wife Hilde is now being scrutinized, who without an official function at WEF has had her travels charged through the organization. Lawyers from the firm Homburger have discovered questionable expenses totaling 900,000 Swiss francs (€970,000) over the past ten years.
Hilde Schwab runs her own foundation for social entrepreneurship but has no formal role within WEF. Despite this, her travels, which cannot always be explained by her activities, have been paid for by WEF.
Denies the allegations
Schwab has tried to defend himself against the manipulation allegations:
— To construct this as a manipulation is an insult to my academic standing, he has said.
He claims that he only forwarded corrections from governments to use updated data or correct errors in the analysis.
Investigation ongoing
The Nordic Times already reported in April that Klaus Schwab was forced to resign from WEF and that a comprehensive investigation is ongoing. The federal foundation authority is also reviewing the use of WEF’s funds.
An important board meeting has been postponed, but time is running out. By the end of August at the latest, invitations to WEF 2026 must be sent out.
Schwab’s spokesman, Jörg Denzler, refuses to comment on the investigation:
— The June agreement is of central significance for Mr. Schwab. In contrast to some other parties, Mr. Schwab fully complies with the terms and does not comment publicly when approached by the media.
