Germany slammed over stolen bank data

Didier Burkhalter, Switzerland’s interior minister on Tuesday strongly criticized the German government’s planned use of stolen Swiss bank data in a bid to catch tax cheats.

Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, confirmed the same day that Berlin was prepared to buy information about accounts held in Switzerland by 1,500 wealthy German citizens suspected of shielding assets from taxation.

The information has been offered for sale for 2.5 million euros by an unidentified informant.

“It amounts to a general aggression against Switzerland,” said Burkhalter at a press conference in Bern to account for his first 100 days in the cabinet, the ATS news service reported.

The member of the centre-right Radical party from Neuchâtel replaced Pascal Couchepin in November 2009 when Couchepin stepped down from the cabinet.

Germany, Switzerland’s largest trading partner, is particularly important for the Swiss “and it is necessary to recover a balance” in relations with the country, Burkhalter said.

He said the federal cabinet is scheduled on Wednesday to discuss the issue, which opens yet another challenge to Swiss banking secrecy laws.

Switzerland has faced increasing criticism internationally for harbouring tax evaders, with action launched over the past year by the governments of US, France and Italy aimed at catching cheats with Swiss accounts.

Meanwhile, the online website of Handelszeitung, a financial newspaper, reported on Tuesday about a German client of UBS who revealed various methods used staff at the Swiss bank to help him evade taxes.

The strategies included setting up a phoney address in Zurich as well as foundations in Singapore and companies in Panama, the newspaper reported.

The client is said to be pressing a criminal complaint against UBS.