The deputy head of a family-controlled Swiss private bank has been arrested on the Balearic islands over U.S. tax allegations. according to a media report. His employer of 23 years, private bank Ihag, is seeking to distance itself from the case.
Spain's national police arrested a Swiss banker on an international arrest warrant, according to online portal «Mallorcazeitung» (in German).
The 60-year-old is wanted by U.S. officials in connection with helping U.S. tax evadors hide more than $65 million in offshore accounts between 2004 and 2014, the outlet reported.
The banker in question is Peter Rueegg (pictured below), a person familiar with the matter told finews.com. Rueegg is listed as the deputy CEO of Ihag on the Zurich-based private bank's website. A spokesman for Ihag confirmed that Rueegg cannot leave Spain due to a U.S. request for legal assistance, and that he had been suspended from his duties at the bank.
Bank Not Contacted
Founded in 1949, Ihag Privatbank recently embarked on a reinvention under new management. Rueegg (pictured below) was one of the few from the previous regime to survive. An Ihag spokesman said the proceedings are centered on Rueegg personally, and that the bank itself hadn't been contacted by U.S. officials nor was it aware of a pending investigation against it as a company.
Rueegg is accused of enabling three U.S. clients to hide their assets in order to evade tax, «Mallorcazeitung» said. Prosecutors accuse Rueegg and his accomplices of earning large commissions for transferring funds first to a series of sham accounts in Hong Kong before making the funds available to the clients via accounts in Singapore controlled by Ihag.
Rumbled In Routine Check
Rueegg faces potential extradition to the U.S. and, if he is convicted of aiding tax fraud, up to five years in jail. The Ihag spokesman said the other individuals accused no longer work for the bank.
«Mallorcazeitung» reported that Rueegg was spotted by police at Palma de Mallorca airport during a routine passport check, after an international warrant for him popped up during checks of the Interpo. The warrant was issued in January, it added.
Extradition Ruling
On Tuesday, Rueegg appeared via video conference before a Spanish judge who is due to decide whether he will be extradited to the U.S. He was then released pending the ruling.
Ihag, which is owned by Gratian Anda, a descendant of industrialist and arms manufacturer Emil Georg Buehrle, in 2015 entered a U.S. program to come clean on past tax offenses and avoid prosecution, paying $7.5 million. Two years later, a Swiss whistleblower alleged that Ihag hadn't been totally forthcoming, as finews.com reported.
