A t.v channel on Tuesday claimed that some Indian sounding names figure in the Swiss Bank secret accounts information which were handed over to Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange by a former Swiss banker.
The channel, Headlines Today, showed a list purportedly containing names of the secret account holders in Julius Baer Bank and Trust Ltd, a Swiss Bank. The list was handed over by one of its former employees Rudolf Elmer to Assange.
The T.V channel showed the list purportedly containing Indian sounding names but made it clear that it could not independently confirm the genuineness of the identity of the account holders or whether they're Indians or not.
Citing the bank clients confidentiality that is guaranteed by the Swiss constitution, the Swiss government had prohibited UBS from complying with the Justice Department's demands and had threatened to seize UBS information to prevent the bank from handing accounts over to the Americans. Earlier this year, UBS had already released to the IRS the names of 250 suspected tax cheats and paid the U.S. government $780 million to avoid criminal prosecution for helping rich Americans hide $20 billion in undisclosed offshore accounts.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the IRS will submit a request to Swiss tax authorities to divulge within one year the names of clients suspected of stashing currency in UBS to evade U.S. taxes. Account holders will be notified before their names are disclosed plus will be able to appeal the decision in Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court. This approach, the Swiss government says, is in line with the existing law allowing the exchange of account information in cases of suspected criminal activity plus also complies with the newly signed double taxation treaty between the two countries, which stipulates that Switzerland will cooperate with the U.S. in inquiring in to suspected cases of tax evasion.
The channel, Headlines Today, showed a list purportedly containing names of the secret account holders in Julius Baer Bank and Trust Ltd, a Swiss Bank. The list was handed over by one of its former employees Rudolf Elmer to Assange.
The T.V channel showed the list purportedly containing Indian sounding names but made it clear that it could not independently confirm the genuineness of the identity of the account holders or whether they're Indians or not.
Citing the bank clients confidentiality that is guaranteed by the Swiss constitution, the Swiss government had prohibited UBS from complying with the Justice Department's demands and had threatened to seize UBS information to prevent the bank from handing accounts over to the Americans. Earlier this year, UBS had already released to the IRS the names of 250 suspected tax cheats and paid the U.S. government $780 million to avoid criminal prosecution for helping rich Americans hide $20 billion in undisclosed offshore accounts.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the IRS will submit a request to Swiss tax authorities to divulge within one year the names of clients suspected of stashing currency in UBS to evade U.S. taxes. Account holders will be notified before their names are disclosed plus will be able to appeal the decision in Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court. This approach, the Swiss government says, is in line with the existing law allowing the exchange of account information in cases of suspected criminal activity plus also complies with the newly signed double taxation treaty between the two countries, which stipulates that Switzerland will cooperate with the U.S. in inquiring in to suspected cases of tax evasion.
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