Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, DC (GenevaLunch) - US Attorney General Eric Holder is being urged to review the case of Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker whose testimony was instrumental in the US government’s case of tax fraud against the Swiss bank. Birkenfeld was sentenced in August 2009 to 40 months in prison for his role in aiding his clients to avoid paying taxes in the USA.
John Durham has been appointed the US special prosecutor to investigate allegations that CIA officials broke the law in going beyond authorized techniques to interrogate terrorist suspects abroad. Durham is a career prosecutor with the Department of Justice who is already investigating the illegal destruction of CIA videotapes of interrogations of terror suspects. Eric Holder, US attorney general, in announcing Durham’s appointment, said that his decision is “controversial” because the Obama Aministration had previously declined to probe past “war on terror” offenses by the intelligence community, preferring to “look forward and not backward.” But he says that given the preliminary information at hand, “this review is the only responsible course of action for me to take.” Reuters
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Justice and Police Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf will meet US Department of Justice chief Eric Holder, at his invitation, Monday 2 March in Washington, DC.
Top of the agenda, according to Bern, is collaborative efforts between the two countries in the areas of combatting the financing of terrorism and organized crime. Also on the agenda: Guantanamo and the US Visa Waiver Program. UBS and the US court case against it have been added to the programme.
Update, 20:25 Tom Daschle withdraws, saying the health job is too big for someone who is a distraction. US President Obama said Tuesday he regrets but accepts Daschle’s withdrawal as the nominee to lead the health department. Tom Daschle has come under fire over his income tax record. Other US appointments, NPR The US Senate 2 February voted for Eric Holder as attorney general, making him the first African-American to hold the key post, and giving him responsibility to decide which prisoners will leave Guantanamo Bay, when and to go where.
