Switzerland's UBS probed by France over tax-dodgers' accounts
French prosecutors have opened an investigation into Swiss bank UBS for helping rich French citizens launder money and dodge taxes. The move comes less than a week after an investigation into UBS’s French armed was opened.
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UBS representatives have been notified that they will be called as “assisted witnesses” – a status that means they could be charged – in an inquiry into charges that they sought out
wealthy French nationals to persuade them to open secret bank accounts in Switzerland.
UBS France was placed under formal investigation on 1 June, as are a former head, Patrick de Fayet, and the former heads of offices in Strasbourg and Lille.
The alleged offences date back to the 2000s.
The inquiry was launched after an anonymous former employee tipped off the Bankd of France’s regulatory arm, ACP.
Earlier this year budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac was forced to resign after it was revealed that he had held a secret account in a Swiss bank.
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