An Italian court near Turin has adjudicated that the list containing details of foreign account holders taken in 2008 from HSBC in Switzerland cannot be utilized by the Italian tax authorities, as its taking was itself a crime.
IT expert, Hervé Falciani, has admitted to passing the information, including details of 7,000 accounts held by Italians in Switzerland in 2005 and 2006, to the French tax authorities in July 2008. Last year, following a request to the French prosecutor in Nice, those details were obtained by the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian financial police.
It has been expected that the names of Italians identified from the list would enable the Guardia di Finanza, together with the Italian Revenue Agency, to open new lines of investigation, or re-open dormant enquiries, on the movement of Italian funds in Switzerland.
However, after various delays, a court near Turin has finally thrown out the case against a presumed individual tax evader on the grounds that the list of accounts was obtained illegally by Falciani, and could therefore not be used in evidence.
It was said that the taking of the list could be classified as an aggravated embezzlement, and was the illicit collection of information contained in a computer system. The judge, in fact, ordered that the list be destroyed.
However, the magistrate in Turin who obtained the list from Nice has made an attempt to gain further time, pointing out that a Swiss penal judgement on Falciani’s actions has yet to be handed down. Until Falciani is pronounced guilty (or innocent) in Switzerland, it appears that the list will remain intact, but that its use by the Italian tax authorities in obtaining the additional tax revenues they had hoped will be proscribed.
IT expert, Hervé Falciani, has admitted to passing the information, including details of 7,000 accounts held by Italians in Switzerland in 2005 and 2006, to the French tax authorities in July 2008. Last year, following a request to the French prosecutor in Nice, those details were obtained by the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian financial police.
It has been expected that the names of Italians identified from the list would enable the Guardia di Finanza, together with the Italian Revenue Agency, to open new lines of investigation, or re-open dormant enquiries, on the movement of Italian funds in Switzerland.
However, after various delays, a court near Turin has finally thrown out the case against a presumed individual tax evader on the grounds that the list of accounts was obtained illegally by Falciani, and could therefore not be used in evidence.
It was said that the taking of the list could be classified as an aggravated embezzlement, and was the illicit collection of information contained in a computer system. The judge, in fact, ordered that the list be destroyed.
However, the magistrate in Turin who obtained the list from Nice has made an attempt to gain further time, pointing out that a Swiss penal judgement on Falciani’s actions has yet to be handed down. Until Falciani is pronounced guilty (or innocent) in Switzerland, it appears that the list will remain intact, but that its use by the Italian tax authorities in obtaining the additional tax revenues they had hoped will be proscribed.
