Jakarta Globe, Fabio Benedetti-Valentini, Mar 04, 2015
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| Republican Guards walk in the rain during a ceremony to welcome Quebec Prime Minister Philippe Couillard during a ceremony in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on March 2, 2015. (AFP Photo/Philippe Wojazer) |
The former
UBS Group banker whose cooperation with the U.S. helped expose tax evasion by
thousands of Americans says the Swiss bank used similar practices elsewhere and
he’s eager to help European governments.
“It’s not a
U.S. issue, it’s not a French issue, it’s a global issue. UBS is the problem,”
Bradley Birkenfeld said in an interview the day after testifying in a French
investigation into similar allegations against UBS. “They’ve been doing it in
every market: the Greek market, the Spanish market, the Italian market, the
Scandinavian market, the German — I can go on and on, you get the picture.”
The French
charged the world’s largest manager of money for the rich last year with
laundering the proceeds of tax fraud and ordered the Zurich-based bank to pay
1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to cover a potential penalty should the
criminal probe result in a guilty finding. The judge leading the probe asked
Birkenfeld to come to Paris to testify as a witness, according to a U.S. court
decision authorizing the trip.
Birkenfeld’s
testimony in the U.S. case helped secure a $780 million settlement with the
bank in 2009. He went to prison for his role and is still on probation. In the
interview with Bloomberg News, he said that during his years at UBS in
Switzerland, he often spoke with colleagues who worked with French clients and
understands how they operated.
French
probe
“A witness
who actively lobbied to get invited, needed to receive special permission to
travel due to his court-ordered supervisory release, and never worked in the
business in question, should have limited credibility,” UBS said in an e-
mailed statement.
On the
French case, the bank said, “the matter remains in a formal investigation
phase, there is nothing more to add at this point.” Previously, the bank said
the French probe has become a “highly politicized process” and that it’s “taken
significant and broad steps to ensure tax compliance of our clients and will
continue to do so.”
The
U.S.-born banker flew to Paris last week and met with investigators led by
judge Guillaume Daieff on Feb. 27, he said. In an interview the next day at a
hotel near the Arc de Triomphe, Birkenfeld recounted his time at UBS in
Switzerland, where he worked from 2001 to 2006. He declined to go into
specifics about the judges’ questions.
‘Boys’
club’
He was part
of a team that catered to 19,000 U.S. wealthy clients with about $20 billion in
assets, he said. As a director, Birkenfeld said he “made good money for the
bank and my clients” during his years at UBS.
He said
that while he focused on North America, he spoke with his colleagues handling
Europeans. UBS managed even more assets from Switzerland for French clients
than for Americans, Birkenfeld said.
While he
said in the Feb. 28 interview that he doesn’t deny he was “part of it,”
Birkenfeld said he wants to use his knowledge of Geneva’s private banking
“little boys’ club” to foster public awareness and fight financial misdeeds.
Birkenfeld
pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in the U.S. case and was sentenced to
40 months in prison. After his release, he received a $104 million
whistle-blower award from the Internal Revenue Service.
Since UBS
handed over account names to the U.S., at least 50,000 U.S. taxpayers have
avoided prosecution by disclosing offshore accounts to the IRS, generating more
than $7 billion in taxes, interest and penalties.
Birkenfeld
said he’s ready to help other authorities as he is with the French, “free of
charge.” He is already cooperating with two that he declined to identify.
Birkenfeld
turned 50 the day before meeting the judges. He now lives in New Hampshire, and
it was his first trip to Europe since 2008.
Bloomberg
 |
Stuart
Gulliver in Hong Kong in 2012: leaked files show that the HSBC chief
executive was a client of the bank’s Swiss
subsidiary at the centre of the
scandal. Photograph:
Bloomberg via Getty Images
|
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