[BITList] aah, safe again!

[CT's]

UBS not to pay fine in U.S. tax settlement: reports
Sun Aug 2, 2009 6:01am EDT

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's UBS will not have to pay a fine as part of the settlement of a tax evasion dispute with the United States, two Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday.
The NZZ am Sonntag and SonntagsZeitung both also reported that data of some 5,000 UBS clients would be released to the U.S. authorities. The two papers cited unnamed sources familiar with the case.

Spokesmen for the Swiss justice and the foreign ministry declined to comment on the reports. UBS was not immediately available.

The U.S. government and UBS struck a deal to settle a dispute over tax evasion and Switzerland's bank secrecy on Friday, heading off a showdown that had threatened to sour relations between the U.S. and Switzerland.

The main sticking point was that U.S. authorities wanted UBS to disclose the names of 52,000 wealthy American clients suspected of using the bank to evade taxes -- a demand that tested Switzerland's vaunted tradition of bank secrecy.

Swiss justice minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, whose ministry is in charge of the negotiations together with the foreign ministry, said in a newspaper interview the parties had still to agree on important details.

"I am optimistic, that an agreement can be reached," she told Swiss paper Sonntag.

But she warned that worries of a failure were not unfounded.

"There are still details to be cleared, which are of importance to us," she said. "Should we not reach an agreement, which is in line with our Swiss laws, a deal would be put into question





oh - the old "detail' devil again........................


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