(Washington) The Swiss bank Credit Suisse, whose takeover by its competitor and compatriot UBS is in progress, has provided assistance to the “richest Americans” in matters of tax evasion, according to a report from the United States Senate published on Wednesday .
According to the document, released by the Senate Finance Committee, Credit Suisse helped hide offshore accounts totaling at least $100 million.
This report is the conclusion of two years of investigation carried out to ensure that the Swiss bank had indeed changed its practices in this area, after agreeing in 2014 to pay a fine of 2.6 billion dollars to put an end to prosecutions, a record at the time, facing the same charges.
Commission says bank failed to meet terms of 2014 agreement with US Department of Justice to end lawsuits filed for failing to report $100 million in assets to the IRS American.
During the investigation, Credit Suisse also acknowledged that 23 other accounts, with at least $20 million and belonging to American citizens, had been identified, with internal investigations still ongoing.
In total, the commission estimates that the total amount recognized by the bank as being in violation of the terms of the 2014 agreement is more than $700 million.
“At the center of this investigation are greedy Swiss bankers and regulators who have failed to do their job, and the result looks like a massive and still ongoing conspiracy to allow very wealthy American citizens to not paying their taxes and defrauding their fellow citizens,” accused the chairman of the commission, Senator Ron Wyden.
The commission accuses Credit Suisse of not having respected the terms of the agreement and of having participated in “ potentially the biggest violation of the rules on the matter in the history of the United States ”. In addition, the commission believes that the senior management of the bank knew about it.
“ The new management team cooperated with the commission. Our clear policy is to close identified undeclared accounts and to sanction any employee who does not apply our establishment’s rules in this regard. Credit Suisse is also actively cooperating with the American authorities on the outstanding points,” assured the Swiss bank in a statement sent to AFP.
The Senate committee also believes that other Swiss banks could be involved, citing in particular UBS and PKB Privatbank, as well as the Israeli bank Leumi.
Destabilized by the onset of the banking panic that affected American regional banks, Credit Suisse was saved thanks to the organization of its takeover by the Swiss authorities, in order to avoid the collapse of a bank considered systemic in Europe.
