Geneva - Authorities in the United States and the Zurich-
based bank UBS AG filed a joint motion Sunday, with the backing of
the Swiss government, to have their court case on secret client data
postponed to allow for further negotiations.
The request to delay the proceedings until August - if no
agreement is reached - was filed as the clock ticked down to the
start of the trial at 1300 GMT Monday in Miami.
Judge Alan Gold, presiding over the court, would have to rule on
the joint motion.
The US has slapped UBS with a demand that it hand over data on
about 52,000 US-tax-paying clients of the bank, and implied it will
not be willing to walk away from the case without at least some
information. The bank's employees are said to have helped wealthy
clients evade paying their taxes.
The Swiss government has said it would seize the data, if the US
court demanded its disclosure, to prevent any violations of the
Alpine confederation's renowned banking confidentiality laws. UBS has
said it would likely face prosecution from authorities in its home
base if it divulged protected data.
US and Swiss officials are trying to negotiate a solution to the
quagmire, and the motion wants to allow them more time for their
talks.
'UBS welcomes the announcement that the US and Swiss governments
have agreed to negotiations for the purpose of resolving the John Doe
summons litigation,' the bank said, using the technical term for the
suit.
'Further information is not available as the already ongoing
settlement negotiations between the US and Swiss governments are
confidential,' the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police
said in a statement.
While not disclosing specific details, the US said it would
continue to seek information on some of the bank's clients.
'The parties have agreed that any alternative resolution reached
would necessarily include a provision requiring UBS to provide the
Internal Revenue Service information on a significant number of
individuals with UBS accounts,' the US Department of Justice said.
Reports in the Swiss media have suggested UBS, the largest bank in
the Alpine country by assets, might hand over some names, probably of
clients who were involved in forms of tax fraud, if it could get a
guarantee that the case would then be closed.
In February, one day after UBS admitted wrongdoing, handed over
information on a reported 250 clients and agreed to pay 780 million
dollars in fines, the US launched the new demand for more data.
Switzerland is in the process of renegotiating its double-taxation
agreements with various governments, including the US, in order to
get off the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's
so called 'grey list' of countries without sufficient disclosure.
USA
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