At
least six more Swiss and one Liechtenstein private bank are being
scrutinised by US prosecutors investigating whether such banks helped US
citizens evade tax, the Financial Times reports, citing court documents it has seen.

The revelations show how inquiries by the US authorities that started
with UBS in 2007 have mushroomed to a number of Swiss banks, although
no additional banks have been named.

The newspaper said the latest information stems from indictments of a
Zurich accountant allegedly specialising in forming sham offshore
companies and foundations, and two former UBS bankers who left after the
latter’s decision to close its US business in 2008.

The documents show that numerous other Swiss private banks, at least
one Liechtenstein group, and possibly two Swiss cantonal banks, are
alleged to have knowingly opened accounts for UBS clients after the
latter terminated the business at US pressure from 2008, it said.

In July, it was reported that US authorities have indicted three
Credit Suisse private bankers yesterday, one being a senior executive,
on charges that they allegedly helped US citizens evade taxes. Federal
prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, filed criminal charges against
Markus Walder, the former head of North America offshore banking and a
former senior Credit Suisse executive; Susanne Rüegg Meier, a former
manager; and Andreas Bachmann, a former banker at a subsidiary of the
bank. Also charged was Josef Dorig, the founder of a Swiss trust company
that worked with the bank.

In 2009, UBS paid a $780 million fine to settle criminal charges that
it had helped US citizens evade tax; in a separate, civil case, the
bank has handed thousands of client account details to the US
authorities as part of an agreement between the US and Switzerland. The
move was seen as a historic breach of Switzerland’s bank secrecy rules.