July 15, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Inter Press Service (IPS) correspondent, Lucy Komisar, recently interviewed Bob Roach, Chief Investigator of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate, to discuss the situation confronting regulators looking to the problem of tax havens, which cost an estimated 100 billion dollars annually to the U.S. alone. Komisar’s discussion with Roach included issues surrounding offshore banking and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS).

Asked about references Roach had made alluding to activities of some institutions creating structures for the sole reason of avoiding tax liability, Roach said he “was specifically referencing the hearings that took place in July last year and lasted until this year, which focused on activities of UBS in Switzerland and the LGT Group, an asset management company in Lichtenstein.”

Asked about the effectiveness of inter-country agreements intended to deal with information sharing about clients of banks and companies set up in offshore jurisdictions (an issue raised in April’s G20), Roach responded, “The fact that you have agreements in place doesn’t really mean or help a lot if jurisdictions won’t comply with them. And this is a problem in a country when we try to seek information. Often the government (that requests the information) has to prove the case before it gets the information it needs to prove the case.” Roach then added, “So while countries can say they have exchange agreements, it’s about the details. Agreements are written in such nebulous language, there are such strict requirements (to comply with in order to get information), that it’s impossible. These really are not effective agreements that increase transparency.”

The entire article, which also addresses personal privacy issues, IRS investigation implications and other relevant issues, is posted at the IPS web site (http://infoescrow.com/f/?u=http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47658).

Komisar’s IPS piece ends with a note that, after the interview was conducted, “the Swiss reached an agreement over a double taxation treaty with the United States in what was seen as a key step towards removal from the Paris-based OECD ‘grey list’ of uncooperative tax havens,” and that “On Monday, Jul. 13, the legal action against Swiss banking giant UBS by U.S. authorities seeking access to records of some 52,000 of UBS’s U.S. clients was delayed, and the sides were given until Aug. 3 to find a settlement.”

Sources: The Komisar Scoop (http://infoescrow.com/f/?u=http://thekomisarscoop.com) and the Inter Press Service (http://infoescrow.com/f/?u=http://www.ipsnews.net).

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