Court overturns verdict in UBS tax case
Published: Wednesday, Nov 15th 2023, 14:40
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UBS has won a victory in its tax evasion case with France. The Court of Cassation in Paris has partially annulled the judgment of the lower court. Among other things, this applies to the penalties and the civil damages payment.
This is the result of the ruling of the French Supreme Court published on Wednesday, which is available in writing to the news agency AWP. With this decision, the case goes back to the court of appeal.
In December 2021, the court demanded a total payment of over 1.8 billion euros from UBS. This includes a fine of 3.75 million euros, the confiscation of 1 billion euros and a civil damages payment of 800 million euros. UBS has set aside 1.1 billion euros for the legal dispute.
UBS had lodged an appeal against this, which has now been successful. A hearing before the Court of Cassation had already taken place at the end of September. However, the supreme court does not fundamentally reassess cases, but only whether there have been any formal errors.
New proceedings before the Court of Appeal
A new trial is now being held at the French Court of Appeal. This means that the legal dispute, which has already lasted around ten years, continues to drag on.
Investigations by the French authorities began back in 2013. In February 2019, UBS was then sentenced for the first time by the Paris criminal court for unauthorized money transactions and aiding and abetting money laundering to a hefty payment totaling 4.5 billion euros.
In December 2021, the bank was also found guilty at second instance: The French Court of Appeal found that UBS had illegally solicited wealthy French taxpayers between 2004 and 2012. It had wanted to persuade clients to open undeclared accounts in Switzerland, according to the ruling.
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