A tax-evasion case involving the Swiss bank UBS and 52,000 of its wealthy US clients is turning into a diplomatic chess game.
Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz asked US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to drop a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to force UBS to turn over the clients’ names, Daniel Haener, a Swiss government official in New York, said on Sunday.
Under Swiss bank secrecy laws, disclosing clients’ names is a criminal offense that can carry prison terms and large fines.
Switzerland instead is proposing to negotiate a new tax treaty with the US that would make possible such disclosures. However, the treaty would not apply to the clients in the continuing case. The current treaty, forged in 1996, does not require Switzerland to disclose clients’ names, and the US is eager for a new treaty that does. Formal talks on a new treaty are scheduled to start today.
For its part, the Justice Department is unlikely to scale back or drop its case against UBS, according to a senior person briefed on the matter. The agency “is not going to give in,” the person said on Sunday.
Haener, the acting consul general of Switzerland in New York, said on Sunday that Merz had asked Geithner for the names case against UBS to be withdrawn after a new agreement is signed. Haener said that “according to Mr. Merz, Mr. Geithner took note but was not yet in a measure to answer.”
The Treasury Department, in a statement on Sunday, said that Geithner “listened to the Swiss concerns regarding the UBS case and indicated that he understood the importance of appropriately resolving the matter.”
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
RSS