I wonder how many of them were CIA drug-laundering accounts.
"Witness sheds light on hiding assets; US panel delves into practices of foreign banks" by Associated Press | July 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - A man wanted by Liechtenstein for leaking secret banking information that identified millionaire tax cheats across Europe and the United States has described to congressional investigators how money was concealed.
Lawmakers played a videotape of the testimony by Heinrich Kieber at a congressional hearing yesterday that revealed rare details of offshore practices at two European banks.
Kieber appeared only as a silhouette against a white screen with eyeglasses and a balding head apparent. Kieber is living under a new name in an undisclosed witness protection program, according to lawmakers. He has never spoken publicly about his role in exposing tax shelters he says were used by Liechtenstein's LGT group.
In the taped interview with the congressional investigators, he described ruses that he saw while at the bank, which he said were used to cover the tracks of money moved into accounts.
The subcommittee report said that UBS bankers searched out wealthy clients and aggressively marketed services to taxpayers who otherwise would not have opened Swiss accounts. It said the bank's practices resulted in billions of dollars of US taxpayer money in accounts that were not disclosed to tax authorities.In his videotaped testimony, Kieber described shell companies used as "high grade camouflage." Money was often transferred through bank-controlled legal entities registered in numerous countries with lax regulations, including Panama, the British Virgin Islands, and Nigeria, he said.
"The only purpose of all of this is to make it extremely complicated for law enforcement agencies to follow the trail, as each step serves as a filter to hide the track of the client's money," he said.
He said that clients were advised how to avoid scrutiny, including not telling anyone including lawyers and family members about hidden money. Clients were also encouraged to use pay phones to contact bank representatives on cellphones from Switzerland and Austria and to use code words in communications.
LGT questions Kieber's objectivity and accuses him of stealing information, according to a bank spokesman. It says that much of the information that Kieber provided involves records going back to the 1970s and 1980s.
"LGT's practices were consistent with accepted industry standards of the time and do not reflect the way in which LGT conducts business today," he said.