It is looking less likely that there will be a parliamentary investigative committee looking into the UBS affair.
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Both the centre-right Christian Democrats and the Radical Party are against the move, as is the office of the Senate – which voted four to one to recommend that no committee be formed, Senate speaker Erika Forster announced Tuesday evening.
However, the centre-left Social Democrats, the Green Party and the rightwing Swiss People’s Party are in favour of creating an investigative committee.
Now the decision lies with the parliamentarians. The House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday next week, and the Senate will vote the Monday after that.
Earlier this week, a parliamentary report said that the government had failed during the global economic crisis and in its treatment of UBS.
In August 2009, Switzerland and the United States reached a deal in a tax case that lifted the threat of crippling legal action against UBS but will require the bank to hand over confidential client data.
In trying to save UBS from further conflicts with the US, the government stepped in and upgraded the deal to a state contract subject to parliamentary approval afterwards.
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Press criticise government role in UBS crisis
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However, many commentators didn’t think the report went far enough and are now calling for a parliamentary investigation to shed light on the role of UBS in the mess. For the Tages-Anzeiger the report painted “a picture of failure” of the government as a body and Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz in particular. Merz had informed…
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Other hot potatoes include the initiative to deport foreign criminals, proposed by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, and the question of managers’ salaries. On August 19, 2009, Switzerland and the United States reached a deal in a tax case that lifted the threat of crippling legal action against UBS but forced the bank to hand…
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Hässig tells swissinfo.ch that Swiss bank UBS was mainly responsible for the fall of banking secrecy – in this context a multi-million dollar tax accord with the United States government and the handing over of client data. In February 2009, UBS agreed to pay $780 million (SFr884.1 million) to avoid legal charges from Washington on…
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Over the past few years, UBS has garnered a lot of negative press. Extraordinary general assemblies and public protests have been occuring with increasing frequency.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.