Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Department of Justice has Received 106 Requests from Swiss Banks to Enter its Swiss Bank Program to Avoid Prosecution



"Anyone who thinks they can hide money in Switzerland is fooling themselves," because of support received from Switzerland, said Kathryn Keneally, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department Tax Division, speaking at the January 25 session of the Civil & Criminal Tax Penalties Committee.
The Justice Department's Swiss bank program, announced in August, provides Swiss banks an opportunity to come forward, cooperate, disclose their illegal conduct, and be eligible for non-prosecution agreements -- or in egregious cases, deferred prosecution agreements.
The DOJ has received 106 letters of intent through its Swiss bank program, according to Keneally. None of the 14 banks currently subject to criminal investigation is included in this number. However, the number of 106 banks is subject to caveats about eligibility.
"We have not determined that they are all banks, or are Swiss banks. We may have some entities that are trying to get in the program but don't quite fit in the definition," Keneally said. She does not expect 106 non-prosecution or deferred prosecution agreements.
"From our point of view, every bank that comes forward under the program is a new source of information for us," Keneally said. "Given the information we expect to receive from these banks about closed accounts and where the money went, I would think that anybody anywhere in the world that has an unreported offshore bank account will be well advised to come forward."
Keneally isn't surprised that a significant number of the letters of intent indicate that the banks are still early in their internal investigations and may try to become category 3 banks. Category 3 is reserved for banks that did not violate United States law.
The program says the banks can reduce their penalties if they can show they encouraged their account holders into the voluntary disclosure program, and after that encouragement, the disclosures came in. But if account holders volunteer information on their own and their banks failed to encourage compliance, the banks will not get credit, Keneally said.
"We are very appreciative of the support received from Switzerland," added Keneally, saying that the program provides a mechanism to allow all Swiss banks to find a resolution, "to take the cloud off of the Swiss financial industry, which is a globally important financial center."
""The goal of that program is to make offshore bank accounts unattractive as a means of tax evasion. And I think we will be at it for as long as it takes," she said. "This is not a trend but fits into what we should be doing."
"We have a lot of avenues for getting information now, some of them visible and some of them not visible. Anyone who thinks they can hide their money in Switzerland or elsewhere is full of themselves and has been for a long time," Keneally said.
What about banks in other countries? Keneally said that DOJ is proceeding country by country. Information can be had more easily from other countries with U.S. treaties and tax information exchange agreements.

OVDP

"We are better off with a voluntarily compliant taxpayer than another criminal tax prosecution," Keneally said. Account holders who received an account closing letter from their banks can still come into the offshore voluntary disclosure program (OVDP), she noted.

1 comment:


  1. Sods ----- Law.
    February.---- 2014.

    For almost two decades we have strived to get justice for the injustice we have suffered at the hands of a world renowned bank--- PICTET & CIE. BANK.

    Two yorkshiremen both running their own small family businesses trying to resolve the problem by taking all the correct legal procedures to recover their monies.

    The matter was raised in Parliament – twice-- the FSA investigated the matter concluding that PICTET had rogues operating in their London Bank --- but the rogues had left ---saying no one left to prosecute.??? ----- so there.

    We then approached the Financial Ombudsman Service. (FOS) --- our case was dealt with by seven different people ---- then our numerous E-Mails were ignored --- nobody would speak to us -------so there.

    We then asked the SFO ( Serious Fraud Office.) to investigate our case ---- the criteria of our case ticked all their boxes. --- we were instructed not to send them any documents/evidence.------ in fact they wrote to us advising us to go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau.(CAB.)

    Richard Alderman the SFO boss ---- who responded to our letter was the same man who would not investigate the “ Madoff” scandal or the “Libor” fiasco.
    The MP's committee ---- said he was sloppy--- and the SFO was run like “ Fred Karno's Circus” ----- it was an office of fraud.----- so there.

    Our M.P. approached our local Chief Constable to investigate----- he was called---- Sir Norman Bettison--- Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police ---- a force that made “ Dad's Army” look like the S.A.S. They were inept – corrupt ---malicious --- from top to bottom. We were criminally dealt with by the Forces Solicitor---- the Head of the Economic Crime Unit ----and the Chief Constable ----- so there.

    We were then advised to pass our complaint against West Yorkshire Police to the I.P.C.C. – which we did --- they advised us to make our complaint to ---- the West Yorkshire Police --- we did with reluctance --- all we got was abuse and obfuscation. ----- so there.

    Sir Norman Bettison ---- The Forces solicitor--- and the Head of the Economic Crime ---- have all been removed from their posts and facing criminal allegations.
    ------ so there.

    We even sought justice through the Courts --- culminating in a visit to the Court of Appeal-London.--- On leaving the Courts of Appeal that day our barrister a “rising star” informed us --- that if that was Justice then you can keep it. He quit the law and moved to Canada ----- so there.

    A few years later we learned that one of the judges in our case at the Court of Appeal was related to a senior executive of the Pictet Bank -----so there.

    Pictet & Cie .Bank --- voted private bank of the year 2013.
    Ivan Pictet ---- Voted banker of the year 2012. ---- the senior partner --- lied on numerous occasions and had documents destroyed --- also said genuine documents were forgeries. ----- so there.

    Ivan Pictet in Oct. 2013 ---- Given the Legion of Honour --- but saying that ---- honours were given to Hitler --- Eichmann --- Mussolini ---Franco --- he's in fitting company. ----so there.

    MONTY RAPHAEL.Q.C. -- Peters & Peters.London. They were the banks lawyers.
    Monty Raphael.Q.C. along with Ivan Pictet withheld crucial documents requested by the High Court ---- the FSA ---- and the police Fraud Squad. ----so there.

    Monty Raphael.Q.C. became an Honorary Queens Counsellor in March. 2012.
    Monty Raphael.Q.C. became a Master of the Bench in Nov.2012.
    An expert in Fraud ---the Doyen of Fraud Lawyers. ----- so there.

    This says a lot about Banks --- the consensus of opinion is that they are highly paid “crooks” ---- no wonder they voted Ivan Pictet banker of the year.

    It appears that crimes in the “establishment.” are honoured by their peers.
    “HONOURS AMONG THIEVES.”


    Full Story.---- “google or Yahoo”

    Insert.

    Ivan Pictet.Banker.
    Monty Raphael.Q.C.
    Ivan Pictet/Monty Raphael.

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