Swiss Subsidiary Implicated In Italian Fraud Investigation

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

18 March 2004

According to reports in the Swiss media, Italian fraud investigators have uncovered an illegal money laundering network between Italian bank, Banca Fideuram, and a Swiss subsidiary.

Around 100 Banca Fideuram officials (including five employees at the bank's Swiss branch) are being investigated over an alleged money trafficking network which led to the illegal deposit of some EUR23 million in Switzerland.

Reporting on the matter, the Swissinfo news service revealed that according to Italian investigators, the money was either smuggled into Switzerland, or transferred using sophisticated computer programmes, and was subsequently invested in the country or repatriated back to Italy under cover of the tax amnesty.

According to Swissinfo, some Italian politicians have taken the discovery of the laundering network as evidence that the tax amnesty is being abused.

"This was to be expected. We said that the tax amnesty would lead to this," Giorgio Benvenuto, a member of the Italian Parliament's finance commission, was quoted as suggesting.

Banco Fideuram, meanwhile, has denied breaching regulations, and has pledged to help the Italian authorities with their investigation.

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