Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Le Temps 13 March carries a lengthy article about the story behind some of the 258 client names released by Swiss bank UBS to the IRS, the US tax collector. Douglas Hornung, a Geneva-based lawyer who represents four of the people whose names were given to the IRS with the agreement of Finma (Swiss banks supervisory body), says his clients were not informed that their names were on the list, and in the case of two of them, an American couple resident in the US, they were not informed in January that an investigation was underway.

The lawyer argues that they should have been informed and allowed to defend themselves.

Hornung argues that his clients are far from the bad guy fraudsters that would oblige Switzerland to cooperate with the US by giving their bank account information: according to Le Temps, he says they have no US funds, no US shares and are not owners of a complex financial structure.

The newspaper interviews other specialists who argue that the only thing which has changed in Swiss-US relations where banking secrecy is involved is the IRS’s interpretation of the bilateral agreement.

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