Authorities in Europe and Australia announced a sweeping tax evasion probe Friday reportedly targeting Credit Suisse clients and senior employees, as investigators detailed arrests and the seizure of artworks and gold. There was no definitive confirmation that Credit Suisse was the main target of the fraud investigations, run by at least four European countries and Canberra and apparently involving hundreds of suspects.
The Swiss financial giant simply confirmed that its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam had been visited by local authorities on Thursday "concerning client tax matters". "We are co-operating with the authorities", Switzerland's number-two bank said in a statement. Dutch prosecutors said dozens of people who allegedly concealed millions of euros were being probed for tax fraud and money laundering and that records were seized on Thursday from "a Swiss bank" which they did not name. Similar operations were carried out in Britain, France, Germany and Australia, all focused on clients who "deposited their money in the same Swiss bank", according to a statement from the National Prosecutor's Office for Serious Fraud, Environmental Crime and Asset Confiscation (FIOD). Two people accused of not declaring their savings have been arrested and two other suspects were interrogated, the FIOD said. "Properties, and jewellery, an expensive car, expensive paintings and a gold bar", were seized from houses in The Hague and three other areas, the Dutch statement added.
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