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Selon un article publié dans le Sunday times, la Suisse demeure un trou noir qui avale l'argent des pays du monde et aide les dictateurs, les criminels , le crime organisé en donnant un anonymat total et discrétion à ces acquisiteurs d'argent mal ascquis.
Pourquoi ce soit disant pays démocratique n'aide pas les pays du tiers monde à récupérer leur argent volé?
Sunday Times: Switzerland remains a 'black hole' swallowing the world's wealth
Highlights: Switzerland has always been like a "black hole" in the heart of Europe, exploited by tax evaders and corrupt rulers. During both world wars, Switzerland found itself as an island of peace. In times of peace, it was also a tax haven surrounded by governments trying to pay off wartime debts. Switzerland is the only European country without a national register of ownership, "making it a magnet for powerful people and criminals seeking to hide their assets," says the Sunday Times. Last week, Switzerland promised to gather information about who owns its shell companies and require lawyers to report suspected money laundering.
Switzerland still receives billions of dollars and hoards them in its banks, even though it continues to claim to be working to change its behaviour for the better.
Switzerland still receives billions of dollars and hoards them in its banks, even though it continues to claim to be working to change its behavior for the better, being a haven for the money of countries and individuals from all over the world.
Switzerland, which it described as "obsessed with secrecy", has always been like a "black hole" in the heart of Europe, exploited by tax evaders and corrupt rulers.
Last week, Switzerland promised to gather information about who owns its shell companies and require lawyers to report suspected money laundering as it seeks to erode its reputation as a haven for suspicious funds.
Switzerland is the only European country without a national register of ownership, "making it a magnet for powerful people and criminals seeking to hide their assets."
Swiss provinces and regions have long served as safe deposit boxes for foreigners, who have been concerned about instability, but business has only taken off in the 20th century.
Salam Island
According to the Sunday Times, during both world wars, Switzerland found itself as an island of peace. In times of peace, it was also a tax haven surrounded by governments trying to pay off wartime debts.
Wealthy French people could pay the new income tax imposed in 1914 or deposit their money in Geneva banks. Wealthy Germans could have contributed to the payment of reparations imposed on their country in 1919, or deposited their money in Zurich.
The higher the tax rates, the more people preferred to withdraw from the tax system, especially after 1934, when it became a crime for Swiss citizens to disclose banking information to foreigners.
In the aftermath of World War II, 2.5% of European household wealth was hidden in Swiss banks; by the seventies, it was 5%, the Sunday Times reported in.
Banking has become the most important industry in Switzerland, making it vulnerable to exploitation by anyone who can afford its services, whatever their status.
The Sunday Times says only three people were aware of the existence of a bank account, the owner and two bank employees, and it was in their interest to keep it that way.
Paradoxically, this secrecy has become popular.
By the sixties, one did not even have to visit Switzerland to deal with its banks; it had branches around the world that welcomed the transfer of client funds to its headquarters.
According to the Sunday Times, it is one thing to know that there is suspicious money deposited in Switzerland, and it is another to prove it.
A former U.S. prosecutor said at a congressional hearing in 1969 that "the Swiss government can, technically, lift banking secrecy" from its banks, but it is a question of how to do it.
A UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfield, told U.S. officials about the tricks he and his colleagues used to help his customers evade U.S. taxes, which included hiding diamonds in toothpaste pipes to smuggle them across the border.
Washington has changed its laws to force those banks to disclose any U.S. citizen who has hired their services.
Major countries have followed the United States' lead, meaning that the days when Europeans quietly crossed the border to deposit their money in Switzerland — or the black hole in their midst, as the report describes — are over.
It has become difficult for Switzerland to maintain its neutrality, as it was justified when it was surrounded by countries fighting each other, but today it is surrounded by the European Union, making neutrality appear "perverted."
Switzerland became a member of the United Nations in 2002. Last year, it joined Western sanctions on the Kremlin after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, Switzerland has frozen more than £6bn worth of Russian assets, putting morality ahead of business interests.
Source: Sunday times
Pourquoi ce soit disant pays démocratique n'aide pas les pays du tiers monde à récupérer leur argent volé?
Sunday Times: Switzerland remains a 'black hole' swallowing the world's wealth
Highlights: Switzerland has always been like a "black hole" in the heart of Europe, exploited by tax evaders and corrupt rulers. During both world wars, Switzerland found itself as an island of peace. In times of peace, it was also a tax haven surrounded by governments trying to pay off wartime debts. Switzerland is the only European country without a national register of ownership, "making it a magnet for powerful people and criminals seeking to hide their assets," says the Sunday Times. Last week, Switzerland promised to gather information about who owns its shell companies and require lawyers to report suspected money laundering.
Switzerland still receives billions of dollars and hoards them in its banks, even though it continues to claim to be working to change its behaviour for the better.
Switzerland still receives billions of dollars and hoards them in its banks, even though it continues to claim to be working to change its behavior for the better, being a haven for the money of countries and individuals from all over the world.
Switzerland, which it described as "obsessed with secrecy", has always been like a "black hole" in the heart of Europe, exploited by tax evaders and corrupt rulers.
Last week, Switzerland promised to gather information about who owns its shell companies and require lawyers to report suspected money laundering as it seeks to erode its reputation as a haven for suspicious funds.
Switzerland is the only European country without a national register of ownership, "making it a magnet for powerful people and criminals seeking to hide their assets."
Swiss provinces and regions have long served as safe deposit boxes for foreigners, who have been concerned about instability, but business has only taken off in the 20th century.
Salam Island
According to the Sunday Times, during both world wars, Switzerland found itself as an island of peace. In times of peace, it was also a tax haven surrounded by governments trying to pay off wartime debts.
Wealthy French people could pay the new income tax imposed in 1914 or deposit their money in Geneva banks. Wealthy Germans could have contributed to the payment of reparations imposed on their country in 1919, or deposited their money in Zurich.
The higher the tax rates, the more people preferred to withdraw from the tax system, especially after 1934, when it became a crime for Swiss citizens to disclose banking information to foreigners.
In the aftermath of World War II, 2.5% of European household wealth was hidden in Swiss banks; by the seventies, it was 5%, the Sunday Times reported in.
Banking has become the most important industry in Switzerland, making it vulnerable to exploitation by anyone who can afford its services, whatever their status.
The Sunday Times says only three people were aware of the existence of a bank account, the owner and two bank employees, and it was in their interest to keep it that way.
Paradoxically, this secrecy has become popular.
By the sixties, one did not even have to visit Switzerland to deal with its banks; it had branches around the world that welcomed the transfer of client funds to its headquarters.
According to the Sunday Times, it is one thing to know that there is suspicious money deposited in Switzerland, and it is another to prove it.
A former U.S. prosecutor said at a congressional hearing in 1969 that "the Swiss government can, technically, lift banking secrecy" from its banks, but it is a question of how to do it.
A UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfield, told U.S. officials about the tricks he and his colleagues used to help his customers evade U.S. taxes, which included hiding diamonds in toothpaste pipes to smuggle them across the border.
Washington has changed its laws to force those banks to disclose any U.S. citizen who has hired their services.
Major countries have followed the United States' lead, meaning that the days when Europeans quietly crossed the border to deposit their money in Switzerland — or the black hole in their midst, as the report describes — are over.
It has become difficult for Switzerland to maintain its neutrality, as it was justified when it was surrounded by countries fighting each other, but today it is surrounded by the European Union, making neutrality appear "perverted."
Switzerland became a member of the United Nations in 2002. Last year, it joined Western sanctions on the Kremlin after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, Switzerland has frozen more than £6bn worth of Russian assets, putting morality ahead of business interests.
Source: Sunday times
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