Swiss bank secrecy – and Guantanamo

Martin Sullivan at Tax Analysts has pointed out critical factors impacting the political will to pursue, or to drop, the US Department of Justice case against UBS. In his article “News Analysis: Switzerland, Guantanamo, and Tax Evasion”, Marty states his hope that “Justice will stick to its guns”, yet adds:

“It makes so much political sense to appease the Swiss. The Swiss government announced in January that it would be willing to take some Guantanamo prisoners off U.S. hands — providing much-needed relief for one of the superpower’s biggest foreign policy headaches. The United States calls on Switzerland to represent it in countries such as Iran where the U.S. has no Guantanamo diplomatice presence. In this economic crisis and in coming years, good relations with the Swiss will be essential for multilateral actions to promote financial stability.”

At the core of the DOJ/UBS dispute lies Switzerland’s notorious Banking Secrecy. The DOJ is demanding release of information on an estimated 52,000 UBS customers who are US citizens. UBS says that this is a matter between U.S. and Swiss governments, because the release of account information by Swiss bankers without the explicit consent of their clients would mean that those bankers are breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws; the bankers would be committing a criminal act in their own country.

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