Senators want Swiss banking group Credit Suisse to be forced to identify tax evaders
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/26/senators-want-swiss-banking-group-credit-suisse-to-be-forced-to-identify-tax-evaders/
Senators want Swiss banking group Credit Suisse to be forced to identify tax evaders
By Dominic Rushe, The Guardian
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 15:37 EST
Senators have called on the US justice department to force the Swiss banking group Credit Suisse to hand over the names of thousands of US citizens who used its accounts to evade taxes.
At a heated hearing of the permanent subcommittee on investigations on Wednesday the Democratic senator Carl Levin blamed the bank, the Swiss government and the justice department for allowing close to 22,000 US citizens to get away with hiding $12bn (£7bn) from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts.
On Tuesday the committee had released a 178-page report documenting how Credit Suisse helped US citizens escape taxes using systems which the Republican senator John McCain said were like something out of a spy novel.
According to the report, bankers filed false visa applications pretending they were tourists and drummed up business at sponsored golf events. One customers bank statements were passed to him hidden inside a copy of Sports Illustrated.