"An informant is offering to sell the German authorities details of 1,500 individuals who allegedly have untaxed income stashed away in Swiss bank accounts, the Finance Ministry confirmed Sunday.
The offer, leaked to a leading conservative daily newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has raised hackles in Switzerland. The Swiss government said Sunday that it considered the tax information “stolen goods,” and that its purchase would be illegal.
The question of whether to pay for the data has sharply divided legislators. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition has adopted a cautious stance over whether to accept the offer, while the opposition Social Democrats have called on the government to cut a deal.
A Christian Democratic Union legislator said paying for the data would “reward thieves.” The pro-business Free Democrats, the junior partner in Mrs. Merkel’s government, were also reluctant to accept the offer.
In 2008, for example, Germany purchased data on tax evaders from a bank official based in Liechtenstein, which caused a major diplomatic dispute between Germany and the tiny state. The Liechtenstein authorities claimed the data had been stolen.
Swiss banking secrecy has taken other blows recently. An informant stole data on 3,000 French account holders from an HSBC branch in Switzerland and passed it to the French authorities last year.
And Switzerland and the United States reached a settlement last year under which the U.S. tax authorities would be furnished with data on thousands of Americans with accounts at UBS. That agreement was threatened by a Swiss court ruling last month."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/busin … amp;st=cse
The offer, leaked to a leading conservative daily newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has raised hackles in Switzerland. The Swiss government said Sunday that it considered the tax information “stolen goods,” and that its purchase would be illegal.
The question of whether to pay for the data has sharply divided legislators. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition has adopted a cautious stance over whether to accept the offer, while the opposition Social Democrats have called on the government to cut a deal.
A Christian Democratic Union legislator said paying for the data would “reward thieves.” The pro-business Free Democrats, the junior partner in Mrs. Merkel’s government, were also reluctant to accept the offer.
In 2008, for example, Germany purchased data on tax evaders from a bank official based in Liechtenstein, which caused a major diplomatic dispute between Germany and the tiny state. The Liechtenstein authorities claimed the data had been stolen.
Swiss banking secrecy has taken other blows recently. An informant stole data on 3,000 French account holders from an HSBC branch in Switzerland and passed it to the French authorities last year.
And Switzerland and the United States reached a settlement last year under which the U.S. tax authorities would be furnished with data on thousands of Americans with accounts at UBS. That agreement was threatened by a Swiss court ruling last month."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/busin … amp;st=cse