Anonymous no more

French Budget Minister Eric Woerth revealed in a weekend interview that Paris had obtained the names of 3,000 French taxpayers holding assets worth about 3 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in three Swiss banks.

Woerth told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that at least some of names listed "very probably" belonged to tax evaders. He said they would be given until Dec. 31 to pay any overdue taxes or would face a full tax audit.

"We are not bluffing. We have a list of 3,000 names," Woerth told France's Radio Classique on Monday, although he said the government would not publicly name the banks nor the individuals concerned.

Left-wing opposition leaders in France have accused President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing government of planning a mass amnesty for tax evaders.

"The government says, 'We have names' Well, those people should be chased down, taxed, made to pay a penalty and taken to court," Socialist leader Martine Aubry told France Info radio.

"Why give them until the end of the year to quietly settle up?" she asked. "When ordinary French people fail to pay their gas bill, they face a penalty. The rules should apply to all."

But Woerth denied that offenders would be let off the hook.

"Of course there is no amnesty," he said. "When I call on people to square their situation with the authorities, that means they will pay tax. An amnesty is to pay no taxes, or very low taxes, which is not the case."

Swiss silence

Woerth said most of the names on the list were obtained from the Swiss tax authorities, while others were sourced directly from the banking establishments concerned.

Swiss authorities, however, said they were unaware of any bank data being transferred to France.

Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz declined to answer reporters' questions when exiting a climate change conference in Geneva. A spokesman for the finance ministry in Bern was unavailable for comment.

"We did not have any request from France about this matter," an official at the Swiss Federal Department of Finance told German news agency dpa.

New deals

Banking secrecy laws traditionally prohibit Swiss banks from revealing information about their clients, except as part of a criminal investigation with the approval of authorities. While tax fraud is regarded as a crime in Switzerland, tax evasion is generally treated only as a minor offence.

But under a deal signed last week, Switzerland agreed to offer France assistance on all tax offenses, in line with rules laid down by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Bern has negotiated similar agreements with a dozen nations, including Japan, Britain and the United States, in an effort to have itself removed from an OECD "grey list" of so-called tax havens. While treaties with France, Denmark and Luxembourg have been finalized, most of the others are still awaiting ratification.

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS has already handed over 250 names to US authorities and recently agreed to transfer data on at least 4,500 more accounts within a year as part of an out-of-court settlement. The bank admitted its employees tried to help US clients dodge taxes.

sje/AFP/dpa

Editor: Sean Sinico