Swiss Banks, AIG Probed By Brazil Police

Police detained 19 people Tuesday for allegedly taking part in a scheme to help large Brazilian companies evade taxes by laundering money through Swiss banks UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group and the U.S.-based American International Group Inc. The raids at 44 sites in four states were part of a clampdown by Brazilian authorities on tax evasion that last month led to raids on the local offices of U.S. network-equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. Two Swiss nationals were taken into custody Tuesday. One of them was a Swiss-based employee of UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, the company said. Authorities were seeking the arrest of another foreigner currently outside of Brazil, but did not disclose that person’s nationality. Detectives also seized over $4 million in Brazilian and U.S. currency, said Ricardo Saadi, the federal police detective in charge of the investigation. He declined to name the banks under investigation, but federal judge Fausto Martin de Sanctis in a statement identified the financial institutions under investigation as UBS, Credit Suisse, AIG and Clariden, a unit of Credit Suisse. Image source: newsimg.bbc.co.uk. > Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Country: Brazil | Company: UBS, Credit Suisse, Cisco | Source: Associated Press