Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has praised a report that heavily criticises the government’s leadership, saying the document is professional and illuminating.
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In a newspaper interview published on Sunday in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the minister said she had twice faced hard but fair questions by investigators. She said the 300-page report was so thorough that a separate investigation into UBS over its tax woes in the United States would likely not bring anything new to light.
Other ministers have also weighed in on the report, which accused the government of being too passive and unable to work together well during the financial crisis and UBS affair.
Swiss President Doris Leuthard on Friday said the document was partly exaggerated. Transportation Minister Moritz Leuenberger in a newspaper interview published in SonntagsBlick cast off the criticism.
“As soon as all of the ministers were informed there was intensive discussions and proposals about how to proceed further,” he said, adding that investigators had been informed in writing of the actions the government had taken. Those comments were not included in the report, he said.
“It probably didn’t fit with the investigation’s thesis that the government had been too passive,” he said.
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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.
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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.