Italy targets tax haven accounts

Italy targets tax haven accounts

By Guy Dinmore in Rome and Scheherazade Daneshkhu in,Paris

Published: March 27 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 27 2008 02:00

Italian authorities are investigating 390 holders of accounts in Liechtenstein banks on suspicion of tax evasion and are preparing to ask Liechtenstein for documentation, Rome judicial sources said yesterday.

Initial investigations had determined that the account-holders, including two trusts, had not made correct tax returns at the time, the sources told the Financial Times. Only two appeared to have declared a transfer of funds to Liechtenstein, they said.

But they stressed that the information, provided by UK tax authorities, dated from 2002 and it was not yet clear whether some of the holders had benefited from later tax amnesties and repatriated their funds. Twenty of the individuals had not been identified so far.

The largest account held €400m ($621m, £312m), and the smallest about €200,000.

Names of some two dozen alleged account-holders started leaking to the Italian media last week, containing a few politicians, industrialists and entertainers. Several were quoted as saying the accounts were lawful or funds had since been moved back to Italy under tax amnesties passed by the previous government.

Separate investigations are starting into whether the funds contained laundered money. Ansa news agency yesterday reported from Naples that Vito Bonsignore, an MEP, was under investigation for alleged money laundering. Mr Bonsignore was quoted last week as saying his account was lawful.

Rome investigators have forwarded the relevant names to prosecutors of the regions where the 390 account-holders live. All but a few are believed to be Italian. Most are from the north, including 100 in Milan.

The centre-left government of Romano Prodi has made a crackdown on tax evasion a high priority, recouping more than €20bn in two years.

But in the case of Liechtenstein investigators are racing against time as the statute of limitations, in this case 7½ years, will expire in the next year or so.

Meanwhile, France said it would investigate 20 people - or groups of people - who have transferred money to Liechtenstein on suspicion of tax evasion and fraud, Eric Woerth, the French budget minister, said.

"The tax department will launch in-depth fiscal investigations in the coming days concerning 20 groups or individuals," he told the Senate finance committee. The probe would focus on income tax, wealth tax and real estate purchase tax.

Mr Woerth did not disclose the amount at stake or the potential loss of tax revenue but did say that 200 French people were known to have deposited €1bn in accounts in Liechtenstein.

No details were given regarding the identity of the 20 individuals or groups of people nor the form the investigation would take. The 20 were on a list of 200 - categorised into 64 groups of people - supplied by the UK to the French government in January, Mr Woerth said.