France stands by use of stolen bank data

December 21, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

www.ft.com

France said on Sunday that it had committed no crime in using a stolen list of Swiss bank accounts to track French tax evaders as a row between Bern and Paris over banking secrecy intensified.

“France is committing no fraud, the tax evaders are,” said Eric Woerth, budget minister, in an interview on Canal Plus. “What counts is that we obtained [the information] legally.”

Switzerland has threatened to suspend ratification of a new bilateral tax treaty agreed with France in September over the decision by French fiscal authorities to use a list stolen from HSBC in Geneva by a former employee. Hervé Falciani, an IT specialist, has admitted stealing the information and handing it to French tax authorities, though he denies receiving payment.

The Swiss government has demanded that the list of more than 100,000 international account holders, including thousands of French citizens, be returned before Christmas. HSBC on Sunday said the information in the list was “incomplete” and “inaccurate”.

The French government is not the first to use stolen information to crack down on tax fraud. Germany has opened hundreds of investigations into suspected tax evaders in Liechtenstein after acquiring information from a former bank employee. Paris officials have said the Swiss list and other sources show that roughly 3,000 accounts held by French citizens contain a total of €3bn ($4.3bn, £2.6bn). Read more…