GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A Montreal man who was among 1,700 whose names were provided to the Canadian revenue service after bank data was stolen by a Geneva HSBC computer employee is now suing his country’s tax department. The suit brought against the Canada Revenue Agency in March comes as a Zurich court has gone after [...]
Bern says no to fiscal fraud help if based on stolen data, fishing expeditions
September 1, 2010 by
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 1 September adopted an ordinance, soon to be replaced by a law, on the procedures to be followed when another country asks for assistance in cases of suspected fiscal fraud. A key element in the text is that the Swiss government will not accept a demand [...]
Credit Suisse cuts staff travel to Germany (Update)
March 21, 2010 by
Update Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Credit Suisse has confirmed weekend Swiss media reports that it is restricting travel for staff in Germany, following an announcement Friday by the German government that it is investigating 1,100 cases of tax evasion and that the investigation includes looking at the role played by Credit Suisse staff. “We already [...]
Who is Hervé Falciani and why do we care?
March 14, 2010 by
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Europe’s largest bank made a startling confession, accompanied by an apology, to its clients 11 March: Britain’s HSBC said it had been given evidence by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor that a Geneva office employee stole data linked to 24,000 client accounts and tried to sell the information abroad. The employee, Hervé [...]
Switzerland says stolen bank data should be part of taxation talks
February 3, 2010 by
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council says it will insist that any discussion about bank data stolen from Swiss banks and offered to Germany must take place during negotiations for a double taxation agreement. Switzerland has initialed 18 of these with other countries since March 2009 and it is in the process of [...]
Germany studies legality of buying stolen Swiss bank data
February 2, 2010 by
All quiet on the Swiss front over Germany’s threat to buy stolen bank data Update 10:40 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has issued a statement following a speech Monday by German Chancellor Angela Merkel where she said that Germany is ready to buy stolen Swiss bank data. Bern says in a brief note [...]
Bank whistleblowers and thieves grab headlines
January 21, 2010 by
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Call them whistleblowers if you believe their consciences have overcome them, or thieves if you think they’ve broken the law. Whatever the label, people who take client data from Swiss banks that employ them, then offer the information to another government, are suddenly back in the headlines. French officials told Swiss [...]
French data thief claims he was kidnapped in Champel
December 22, 2009 by
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -The latest twist in the increasingly tangled tale of client data stolen from HSBC in Geneva comes from the thief himself, formerly known as Hervé Falciani. The former HSBC computer system employee who now lives under a new identity in the south of France told French journalists from Nice Matin that in [...]
