BERN: Two Swiss banks have agreed to disclose the details of US citizens hiding nearly $150 million in assets to evade taxes, the US Justice Department said in a press release on Thursday.
“According to the terms of the non-prosecution agreements signed today, each bank agrees to cooperate in any related criminal or civil proceedings, demonstrate its implementation of controls to stop misconduct involving undeclared US accounts and pay penalties in return for the [Justice ]Department’s agreement not to prosecute these banks for tax-related criminal offenses,” the release stated.
Bank Zweiplus and Banca Stato both reached the agreement with US authorities under its Swiss Bank Program, which seeks to ensure cooperation between Swiss banks and US financial and legal authorities in uncovering assets of US citizens and companies for tax purposes.