Reply #12: UBS executive held by US authorities in tax evasion probe

[UpInArms]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080507/bs_afp/switzerlandbankingcorporatecrimetaxcompanyubs

ZURICH (AFP) - UBS bank said on Wednesday that one of its senior executives had been detained by United States authorities, with the status of a witness, in relation to a tax evasion investigation.

"We are cooperating with the authorities, but it is too early to say what would be the consequences" of this investigation, a UBS spokesman told AFP, after the Financial Times had reported the matter.

The bank said in a statement received by AFP that the US Department of Justice was looking into whether some of its citizens had sought "with the assistance of UBS client advisors, to evade their US tax obligations".

The US Securities and Exchange Commission was also investigating if Swiss-based client advisors from the bank had engaged in activities that should have required UBS Switzerland to register with the commission as a broker-dealer or investment adviser.

The bank added that it was cooperating with the investigations.

UBS did not give the identity of the detained banker, who was identified by the FT report as Martin Liechti, who was based in Switzerland and headed the bank's international wealth managment business for North and South America.

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