Gilles Lapouge
Os belos bancos, elegantes, silenciosos de Basileia e Berna
estão ofegantes. Poderia dizer-se que eles estão assistindo na penumbra a uma
morte ou estão velando um moribundo. Esse moribundo, que talvez acabe mesmo
morrendo, é o “segredo bancário” suíço.
O ataque veio dos Estados Unidos, em acordo com o presidente
Obama. O primeiro tiro de advertência foi dado na quarta-feira: a UBS – União
de Bancos Suíços, gigantesca instituição bancária suíça viu-se obrigada a
fornecer os nomes de 250 clientes americanos por ela ajudados para defraudar o
fisco. O banco protestou, mas os americanos ameaçaram retirar a sua licença nos
Estados Unidos. Os suíços, então, passaram os nomes. E a vida bancária foi
retomada tranquilamente.
Mas, no fim da semana, o ataque foi retomado. Desta vez os
americanos golpearam forte, exigindo que a UBS forneça o nome dos seus 52.000
clientes titulares de contas ilegais! O banco protestou. A Suíça está temerosa.
O partido de extrema-direita, UDC (União Democrática do
Centro), que detém um terço das cadeiras no Parlamento Federal, propõe que o
segredo bancário seja inscrito e ancorado pela Constituição federal.
Mas como resistir? A União de Bancos Suíços não pode perder
sua licença nos EUA, pois é nesse país que aufere um terço dos seus benefícios.
Um dos pilares da Suíça está sendo sacudido. O segredo bancário suíço não é
coisa recente.Esse dogma foi proclamado por uma lei de 1934, embora já
existisse desde 1714.
No início do século 19, o escritor francês Chateaubriand
escreveu que neutros nas grandes revoluções nos Estados que os rodeavam, os
suíços enriqueceram à custa da desgraça alheia e fundaram os bancos em cima das
calamidades humanas.
Acabar com o segredo bancário será uma catástrofe económica.
Para Hans Rudolf Merz, presidente da Confederação Helvética, uma falência da
União de Bancos Suíços custaria 300 bilhões de francos suíços.E não se trata
apenas do UBS.Toda a rede bancária do país funciona da mesma maneira.
O historiador suíço Jean Ziegler, que há mais de 30 anos
denuncia a imoralidade helvética, estima que os banqueiros do país, amparados
no segredo bancário, fazem frutificar três trilhões de dólares de fortunas
privadas estrangeiras.
Os ativos estrangeiros chamados institucionais, como os
fundos de pensão, são nitidamente minoritários.
Ziegler acrescenta ainda que se calcula em 27% a parte da
Suíça no conjunto dos mercados financeiros offshore do mundo, bem à frente de
Luxemburgo, Caribe ou o extremo Oriente.
Na Suíça, um pequeno país de 8 milhões de habitantes, 107
mil pessoas trabalham em bancos. O manejo do dinheiro na Suíça, diz Ziegler,
reveste-se de um caráter sacramental. Guardar, recolher, contar, especular e
ocultar o dinheiro, são todos atos que se revestem de uma majestade ontológica,
que nenhuma palavra deve macular, e realizam-se em silêncio e recolhimento.
Onde pararam as fortunas recolhidas pela Alemanha Nazi? Onde
estão as fortunas colossais de ditadores como Mobutu, do Zaire; Eduardo dos
Santos, de Angola; dos Barões da droga Colombiana; Papa-Doc, do Haiti; Mugabe,
do Zimbabwe… e da Máfia Russa?
Quantos atuais e ex-governantes, presidentes, ministros,
reis e outros instalados no poder, até em cargos mais discretos como Prefeitos
de Municípios, têm polpudas “gatunadas” contas na Suíça?
Quantas ficam eternamente esquecidas na Suíça, congeladas, e
quando os titulares das contas morrem ou caem da cadeira do poder, tornam-se
impossíbilitadas de serem alcançadas pelos legítimos (!?) herdeiros ou pelos
países que foram espoliados ?
Por exemplo, por que após a morte de Mobutu os seus filhos
nunca conseguiram entrar na Suíça?… Tudo lá ficou para sempre e em segredo .
Agora, surge um outro perigo, depois do duro golpe dos americanos.Na
mini cúpula europeia que se realizou em Berlim, (em preparação ao encontro do
G-20 em Londres), França, Alemanha e Inglaterra (o que foi inesperado) chegaram
a um acordo no sentido de sancionar os paraísos fiscais.
“Precisamos de uma lista daqueles que recusam a cooperação
internacional”, vociferou a chanceler Angela Merkel.
No domingo, o encarregado do departamento do Tesouro
britânico Alistair Darling, apelou aos suíços para se ajustarem às leis fiscais
e bancárias europeias.
Vale observar, contudo, que a Suíça não foi convidada para
participar do G-20 de Londres, quando serão debatidas as sanções a serem
adotadas contra os paraísos fiscais.
Há muito tempo se deseja o fim do segredo bancário.Mas até
agora, em razão da prosperidade econômica mundial, todas as tentativas foram
abortadas.
Hoje, estamos em crise. Viva a crise !!!
Barack Obama, quando era senador, denunciou com perseverança
a imoralidade desses remansos de paz para o dinheiro corrompido.Hoje ele é
presidente. É preciso acrescentar que os Estados Unidos têm muitos defeitos,
mas a fraude fiscal sempre foi considerada um dos crimes mais graves no
país.Nos anos 30, os americanos conseguiram caçar Al Capone. Sob que pretexto?
Fraude fiscal !
Para muito breve, a queda do império financeiro suíço.
Switzerland bank secrecy deal with US collapses in Swiss parliament.
Switzerland's lower house rebuffed demands by the American
government to reveal information on customers who may be evading taxes in the
Alpine country.
Alexander BesantJune 21, 2013 03:02 / http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130620/switzerland-bank-secrecy-deal-us-collapses-swiss-parliament
GENEVA, Switzerland — The Swiss parliament has rejected a
bill that would have allowed Swiss banks to reveal client information to US tax
authorities.
Switzerland's lower house rebuffed demands by the American
government to reveal information on customers who may be evading taxes in the
Alpine country.
The bill would have also targeted Swiss bank employees who
helped their clients hide money.
The National Council voted 126 to 67 on Tuesday not to
discuss the bill, which means that it will be passed back to the executive
branch to find a solution.
The Swiss Federal Assembly, which only sits for four
three-week sessions per year, ends its summer session this Friday.
American authorities had demanded that the Swiss government
act on the bill, which the Swiss have called “Lex USA,” by July 1 — but now it
could be tied up in negotiations for years.
The bill had already been approved by the upper house, the
Council of States, after threats by the US that Swiss banks could be cut out of
the dollar market.
US courts have already fined two Swiss banks causing the
closure of Wegelin, the country's oldest private bank, after it was eventually
indicted.
UBS, Switzerland's most prominent bank, was ordered to pay
$780 million and release information on 4,000 bank accounts in 2009 in order to avoid
indictment by US courts.
The National Council rejected the highly secretive new law
over worries that it would do serious damage to Switzerland's lucrative banking
system.
The Swiss government now risks US retaliation over the
decision.
“It is very likely that [the DoJ] perceived the Wegelin
indictment as a shot across the bows of the larger more influential Swiss
banks, and if that shot is not heeded, they very well may see no alternative
but to turn the heat up on more economically important banks,” Beckett Cantley,
a tax law expert at the John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, told swissinfo.ch.
“The DoJ is seeking not just to catch the existing crop of
tax evaders, but also to permanently deter new tax evaders and their enabling
bankers on a worldwide basis.”
Other banks that could be targeted are giants like Credit
Suisse and Pictet, along with more local banks.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Credit Suisse had
already set aside 295 million Swiss francs ($320.7 million) to pay US
authorities.
Swissinfo.ch said that Switzerland's lead negotiator on the
matter, Michael Ambuhl, believes that the country is now vulnerable.
“Whether we like it or not, the US has the ability to
destabilize the entire Swiss financial center by taking measures against Swiss
banks,” he was quoted as saying.
Though many US tax evaders have already come forward during
a period of amnesty, it is believed that billions of dollars still reside in
Swiss banks.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130620/switzerland-bank-secrecy-deal-us-collapses-swiss-parliament
DISPUTE OVER BANKS
Swiss announce US deal to end tax evasion saga
May 29, 2013 - 19:33 / swissinfo.ch http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Swiss_announce_US_deal_to_end_tax_evasion_saga.html?cid=35976562
Swiss banks will be allowed to pass on more confidential
information to the United States authorities to clear up the ongoing tax
evasion row between the two countries, the government announced on Wednesday.
Banks will remain banned from passing on client names or
account details under the deal, but they could reveal a trail of data leading
to US tax dodgers with undeclared assets hidden in Switzerland.
Parliament will be asked to vote in favour of the
long-awaited bill in June. Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said
the data transfer would only last for one year and was the best way to “restore
stability” to the financial sector.
Banks would also be allowed to name their own staff and
other third parties, such as lawyers and tax advisors, involved in US business
activities. But clients' identities could only be given through a request via
the existing double taxation agreement.
Mixed reactions
Reaction to the news in Switzerland was mixed. The Swiss
Bankers Association said on its website that the solution could finally restore
legal certainty to the country’s financial sector following years of
prosecution, indictments and threats from the US.
The Swiss bank employees association said that providing
staff names to US investigators was a necessary evil to ensure a long-term
solution for the finance sector.
Under the deal, bank employees must be informed about the
nature of the data transferred and benefit from safeguards against
discrimination or being made redundant because of ties to American clients.
Banks will also be expected to pay any employee legal costs related to these
cases.
But the Swiss Chamber of Tax Advisors said in a statement it
was “unacceptable” that its members could be hung out to dry “to correct the
mistakes of large banks”.
The Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce welcomed the fact that
clients’ names would not be included in the information handed out by banks.
“There are no unreasonable demands regarding client confidentiality, but we
still do not know what price has to be paid by banks,” Chamber Chief Executive
Martin Naville told swissinfo.ch
Political coolness
Most of the Swiss political parties, wherever they stand on
the spectrum, have been unenthusiastic about the deal.
The president of the centre-left Social Democrats, Christian
Levrat, put out a statement saying it was strange to “support businesses which
have created their own difficulties with regard to the American legal
authorities”.
His party will not vote in favour of the project. They would
rather see information exchanged automatically and obtain clear assurances from
the banks that they will no longer conduct business with assets that do not
comply with the tax regulations.
A statement from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party said the
government appeared to have failed in its negotiations with the US over a
global agreement, and described the deal as a violation of Swiss law. It called
for a proper parliamentary debate on the issue, rather than a quick vote.
However, it did not say explicitly whether it would vote
against.
The centre-right Radical Party agreed that the deal was not
the global agreement that the government had promised. Radical Party
parliamentarian Ruedi Noser accused the government of trying to make parliament
take responsibility for the deal, without informing it of the details of the
solution reached.
And parliamentarian Pirmin Bischof of the centre-right
Christian Democrats said that it was up to the banks themselves to reach an
agreement with Washington.
The only major party to come out in favour of the deal was
the Conservative Democrats, Widmer-Schlumpf’s own party, which said that it was
“high time” to draw a line under the tax dispute with the US. It described the
deal as a “pragmatic solution”.
Financial consequences
Several media reports put the eventual bill in fines and
compensation to be paid by Swiss banks to the US as high as $10 billion CHF9.7
billion). But Widmer-Schlumpf refused to be drawn on such speculation at Wednesday’s
press conference.
The finance minister said the government had not discussed a
total sum for fines and would not offer financial assistance for banks as they
seek individual settlements. She added that the US authorities would provide
details once the bill was approved by parliament.
The country's biggest bank UBS was forced in 2009 to pay a
fine of $780 million and hand over the names of more than 4,000 clients, after
being caught red-handed aiding and abetting US tax cheats.
Switzerland's oldest private bank, Wegelin, said in January
it was closing down after pleading guilty to helping Americans evade taxes,
paying a fine of nearly $58 million.
At least 14 Swiss banks are currently under formal US
investigation include Credit Suisse, Julius Baer, British bank HSBC's Swiss arm, privately-held Pictet in Geneva,
and smaller players such as LLB's Swiss arm and the Zurich and Basel cantonal
banks.
According to Widmer-Schlumpf, no fresh investigations will
be launched during the validity of the legislation as per an agreement with the
US authorities.
However if the bill
was turned down, more banks could quickly expect trouble.
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