Originally, the bank was supposed to pay a fine of 3.7 billion euros, plus 800 million euros for damages and interest to the French state.
(Photo: dpa)
Zurich UBS has to pay significantly less fine than feared in a case of aiding and abetting tax evasion in France: An appeals court found the major Swiss bank guilty on Monday for inciting customers from 2004 to 2012 to hide their assets from the French tax authorities in Switzerland . The bank has to pay 1.8 billion euros to the French state.
However, this meant that the fine from the first instance was more than halved. Two years ago, a French court in the first instance sentenced the bank to a record fine: UBS would have had to pay a fine of 3.7 billion euros plus 800 million euros for damages and interest to the French state.
Wealthy French customers listed in so-called “milk books” had been won over by an organization set up by the bank for this purpose. According to the court in the first instance, there is no need to provide evidence of criminal liability in each individual case.
The team of lawyers led by long-time chief lawyer Markus Diethelm has succeeded in preventing a so-called “proportional” fine for money laundering. This was mainly responsible for the exceptionally high fines in the French judiciary. The sanction was significantly higher than the normal maximum penalty for companies for money laundering under French criminal law. According to UBS, the French state’s back tax claims on these funds amount to only around 820 million euros.
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At the time, the money house described the judgment as a scandal: the bank had not been guilty of anything, and no material criminal offense had been proven to it. The bank believes that it has complied with applicable EU law.
The allegations of aiding and abetting tax evasion and money laundering of evaded assets relate to the years 2004 to 2012. The EU-Switzerland agreement has been in force since 2005. Countries such as Switzerland, which refused to oblige their banks to exchange information with foreign tax authorities, have since had to withhold flat-rate taxes on interest income. The bank emphasized in a statement on the case.
More: UBS hopes for a lower sentence in the French appeal process.