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Credit Suisse kept a close watch over the UBS trial in Paris – with good reason. The bank is also in the focus of tax authorities in France, as French investigators told finews.com.

When UBS and its armada of lawyers suffered their crushing defeat on February 20 in a French court, observers in the galleries looked very closely at the fine print of the verdict. The legal team of Credit Suisse in particular was keeping a close watch and saw the rival being convicted of a 4.5 billion euro ($5.04 billion) fine.

What the team led by General Counsel Romeo Cerutti told CEO Tidjane Thiam after the close of the trial in Paris is unbeknown to the public. But the bank will have to carefully craft its strategy should the French investigators decide to launch a legal bid against the Swiss company.

Ongoing Case Against Credit Suisse

The fact that Parquet National Financier (PNF) is probing Credit Suisse on grounds of harboring untaxed French assets on Swiss accounts hasn't been known so far, but a spokesperson has now confirmed in an interview with finews.com: «At PNF, there has been an investigation for some time.»

The case concerning Credit Suisse is similar to the one that affected its Paradeplatz rival. The PNF spokesperson didn’t give any indication about how far the probe has reached and when it might take a next step.

The statement was the first by PNF about its investigation into Credit Suisse on grounds of abetting tax evasion and  money-laundering offenses and it is the first time it confirmed such an investigation. PNF started operating as a public authority in February 2014 and specializes in cases of economic and financial crime.

2017 Searches

In March 2017, PNF announced that it had detected several thousand accounts with undeclared assets in Switzerland, making such an investigation likely.

Credit Suisse at the same time announced that investigators in Paris, London and Amsterdam had conducted searches on its premises and that it was cooperating with the authorities. The searches were mentioned in the bank's annual reports of 2017 and 2018.

Credit Suisse hasn’t commented on PNF’s investigation so far. A spokesperson now says: «Credit Suisse hasn’t been aware of any further activities in this respect by the French authorities since April 2017.»

Stamping Out Tax Dodging