Road block for US courts desiring UBS files

AP Photo/Keystone/Walter Bieri,File

The Swiss government, and more specifically Bern, became an immense barrier between the U.S. and Swiss bank UBS as it effectively prohibited the bank from handing over confidential client information. The government threatened to go as far as to confiscate the data so that a court in Miami would have no possible access to the desired information.

The data being requested includes the names and information of up to 52,000 taxpayers who hold offshore accounts in Switzerland. UBS argues that they cannot reveal the information without breaking Swiss bank secrecy laws.

Swiss critics have noted the irony that next week’s case will be heard in Miami, an established offshore centre for the – possibly undeclared – assets of thousands of rich South Americans.

-Daniel Smart