Prosecutors’ raid of UBS Athens turns up 200 suspected tax dodgers
A raid by financial prosecutors on UBS in Athens on Friday turned up some 200 depositors whose names were on a list sent by German authorities to help crack down on large-scale tax evasion, it was announced on Tuesday.
Greece's Finance Ministry said in November that it had received details of Greeks with bank accounts in Switzerland, passed on from tax authorities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia through the Federal Central Tax Office in Germany.
It reportedly contains details on 10,588 depositors with total savings of 3.9 billion Swiss francs (3.6 billion euros) in 2006 and 2.9 billion Swiss francs (2.67 billion euros) in 2008.
Prosecutors on Friday seized computer hard drives and files from the investment bank’s headquarters in the northern suburb of Kifissia and from its branches, as well as from the office of a high-profile broker who worked with the company.
According to sources, prosecutors identified 200 suspicious accounts, containing deposits ranging from 1.5 to 12 million euros.
