| Minister Ueli Maurer |
Nearly 50 leading sports organisations are based in Switzerland, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne and UEFA, European football's governing body, in Nyon.
Such bodies are granted tax breaks and flexible legal terms that allow them to govern their own affairs.
Non-profit sporting entities are, for example, exempt from Swiss anti-corruption laws – last updated in 2006 - a loophole that Maurer (pictured) is seeking to close.
"Switzerland has allowed FIFA and other international sports bodies to operate without any transparency," Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington based think-tank, and formerly, a director for governance and anti-corruption at the World Bank, told Market Watch last month.
"If nothing changes, Switzerland may be seen by many as offering a 'safe haven' to non-transparent and mismanaged sports organisations, as it had done with the banks until not long ago."
Maurer has now decided that he must take action to protect Switzerland's image.
"Recent developments need for swift action because Switzerland must become a model in fighting corruption in sport," he said today.
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