The second Swiss bank thus avoids the lawsuit in France for illegal canvassing of customers and aggravated laundering of tax fraud.
By signing an agreement validated by the Paris court, Credit Suisse settles its dispute with the tax authorities, but also with the public prosecutor. The second Swiss bank will have to pay 115 million euros in damages to the tax authorities, and pay a fine of 123 million euros to the public prosecutor. She has twelve months to pay these sums, in three instalments.
Thus ends the case, which dates back to 2016. The financial prosecutor’s office in France then receives reports of aid that would be provided by Credit Suisse to some of its customers. This somewhat special aid would allow tax evasion. This concerns 5,000 French customers, owners of accounts not declared to the French tax authorities between 2005 and 2012.
Salespeople who traveled discreetly
The hidden assets amount to a total of 2 billion euros and there is no account statement. But the bank’s sales representatives move discreetly to help customers evade their money from the tax authorities. ” Credit Suisse did not send any account statements. The canvassing did not respect French legislation, the sales representatives traveled to France, in complete discretion. They identified prospects ” with some ” visits to hotels, restaurants, never to the official premises of the French establishment “, specified the president of the court, Stéphane Noël.
The Credit Suisse affair is strangely reminiscent of that of HSBC Private Bank. In 2017, this Swiss subsidiary of the British giant HSBC agreed to pay 300 million euros to escape a trial in France.
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(With AFP)