The Guardia di Finanza has asked the Swiss tax authorities to know the names of the Italians holding 9.953 open positions at Credit Suisse. Over 6,6 billion euros are allegedly deposited in these accounts, money which - according to the suspicions of the investigators - would have been hidden from the Italian tax authorities and illegally exported.
The operation by the Fiamme Gialle, which intends to exploit the new channels of international cooperation between Italy and Switzerland, is linked to the judicial police investigations carried out by the Milan Tax Police Unit against the Credit Suisse Group. The investigation, which started in 2014, was coordinated by the Milan prosecutor's office. On November 30, the Italian tax authorities had collected 101,5 million euros from the Bank to settle the dispute with the Revenue Agency following the investigation by the magistrates. Another 8,5 million had been paid by the Swiss institution to close the settlement with the prosecutor for money laundering.
The investigations had already made it possible to identify the holders of 3.297 positions, most of whom have already received complaints from the financial offices, which ended with the collection (also as a result of the adhesion to the first voluntary disclosure) of around 173 million euros for taxes, penalties and interest.
Over 13 alleged tax evaders who were customers of the Swiss bank were being examined by the men of the tax police unit of the Gdf in Milan (the Italian branch of Credit Suisse is not involved in the investigations). Their accounts had 14 billion euros deposited, eight of which had been diverted into "cover" life policies, according to investigators.
In essence, Credit Suisse had Italian customers sign policies that were sold through two companies domiciled in Liechtenstein and Bermuda, which then in turn returned all the sums to Credit Suisse, which handled the total management of the funds. For the investigators, with these fake financial instruments it was possible to return undeclared money from abroad.
