It demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, the institution of Swiss banking secrecy did not arise from a desire to protect the funds deposited in Switzerland by Jewish victims of Nazi persecution but rather had substantially different origins. Moreover, this article shows that Swiss banking secrecy gave rise to tensions between Switzerland and the Great Powers, especially during and after World War II, when it poisoned relations between Switzerland and the United States.
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Harvard University, which celebrated its th anniversary in , is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 18, degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units.
In , French authorities raided the Paris office of Swiss bank Basler Handelsbank to search for clients who held accounts and avoided French taxes. Dubbed as a fraude fiscale, tax fraud the uncovering of these assets worth approximately one billion French francs, led to more crackdowns on the bank, with the names of account holders being revealed, and two of its employees being arrested.
Likewise in Germany, a law was passed which made keeping foreign capital in Swiss banks an offence punishable by no less than death. But Switzerland refused to budge, or in other words, deviate from its long-held tradition of neutrality proclaimed in , non-interference and independence, values it held firmly throughout the two World Wars.
In fact, it perceived these threats and acts by France and Germany as acts of aggression on its economy, and further strengthened its bank secrecy by the passage of the law in They would force their victims to sign the requisite orders and with the Swiss typically not interfering, the transfer of assets from Swiss accounts to German accounts became easier. In , Switzerland held a national referendum for a constitutional amendment, which sought to open bank records to tax authorities.
However, as the nineties went on, there were several scandals, including those involving Raul Salinas and the Citibank, Zurich in that have raised questions over Swiss banks and their role in voluntary tax fraud.
A year later, in , UBS agreed to reveal the names of Americans who were long suspected of using their offshore bank accounts to evade taxes. We accept full responsibility for these improper activities. Last year, Switzerland signed a landmark convention to share information with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD , with an agreement to exchange data with 60 countries.
It was after Germans began being put to death for holding Swiss accounts that the Swiss government was even more convinced of the need for bank secrecy. In , the people of Switzerland once again voted in favor of maintaining bank secrecy -- by a whopping 73 percent.
And, after the war many were not allowed to recover their assets because their documentation was gone. Swiss banks have come under fire in recent years because of their actions towards Jewish account holders after World War II and also because money that German Nazis plundered from defeated countries and their prisoners was held in Swiss banks. Christoph Meili, a former bank security guard, exposed the bank he worked for, saying that they destroyed records of people murdered in the Holocaust so that their money would not be returned to their heirs.
According to Eizenstat, "Although there is no evidence that Switzerland or other neutral countries knowingly accepted victim gold It's assumed that the Swiss feared possible invasion from neighboring Germany.
After the war, to ensure that there could be no Nazi return to power, the Allies held or disposed of German external assets to prevent their return to German ownership or control. A plan was also made to take care of Nazi victims who needed aid.
Switzerland was invited to discuss issues as a result of the Paris agreement. In return, according to Eizenstat, the United States, United Kingdom and French governments agreed to "waive in their name and of their banks of issue all claims against the government of Switzerland and the Swiss National Bank in connection with gold acquired from Germany by Switzerland.
Recognized claims against the monetary gold pool greatly exceeded the amount of monetary gold actually recovered. So the TGC established a proportional redistribution system which established that each country would receive approximately 65 percent of its recognized claim.
The problem of dormant accounts and heirless assets was not directly addressed in the Washington Agreement. The head of the Swiss delegation did state, however, that his Government would "examine sympathetically" possibilities for making available for "relief and rehabilitation" proceeds of property found in Switzerland which belonged to Nazi victims. As a result, a total of nearly 9.
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