Swiss yet to deliver UBS client data for US probe
Switzerland has not yet handed over data on clients of UBS to the US authorities as part of a probe into possible tax evasion among wealthy bank customers, a government spokesman said yesterday.
However, the Swiss government does not know how many UBS customers may have handed over their details to the US tax authorities, the justice ministry spokesman told local news agency SDA.
“We are working to clarify this,” it said, adding the precise number could be made available in the next few days.
A UBS client last week won an appeal to prevent her account data from being given to the US, a case which raises doubt about the future of the effort to identify US citizens who might have hidden billions of dollars in UBS bank accounts to avoid taxes. That judgement has thrown the whole deal into doubt and means the US might not get the details it wants on 4,450 UBS clients. The US says it would withdraw its legal summons seeking names of UBS clients if it got account holder names, but it is unclear whether that condition has been met.