ARTICLE
11 April 2017

Swiss Federal Prosecutors' Office Wants To Speed Up International Tax Assistance Procedures

RA
Rihm Attorneys

Contributor

Rihm Attorneys logo
Rihm Attorneys at law is a Swiss law practice with an international outlook and counseling focus around all aspects of entrepreneurship. For more than 30 years, the firm has advised and represented companies and entrepreneurs in complex transactions and restructurings, including technology transfer as well as in state court, arbitration and insolvency proceedings including mediation proceedings. Based in the centre of Zurich nearby Paradeplatz, Rihm Attorneys at law can draw upon a well-established global network of correspondent law firms in all major business centers. Through one of its partners, Prof. Dr. Karl Pilny, the firm has recently acquired a longstanding Asian practise. Our working languages are German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian and Albanian. According to Chambers, Best Lawyers and Who's Who Legal, Rihm Attorneys at law is leading in the fields of M&A, insolvency and employment & compensation benefits laws.
Even if such complaints have not much of chance to succeed, international legal assistance procedures are sometimes delayed for months.
Switzerland International Law

Whether the corruption scandal at the Brazilian company Petrobras, the affair around the Malaysian state fund 1MDB or the criminal investigations against Fifa: almost all cases, which the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office (SFPO) reported on last week have one thing in common: the SFPO has to deal with are large dossiers with connections to many foreign countries. Usually, law enforcement authorities of various countries are involved in such cases, but they have only a chance to succeed if global cooperation can be secured. In the investigation against the quasi-state owned oil company Petrobras, such cooperation has paid off: the SFPO has confiscated about CHF 1 billion with some CHF 200 million already being repatriated to Brazil.

However, according to SFPO, the complex procedures with numerous international ramifications are becoming increasingly burdensome, thereby hampering efficient law enforcement. In order to speed up complex cases of such size, it is necessary that information can be exchanged rapidly on an international level. Instead, the international Swiss legal assistance procedures are quite often slow as document transfers can only be secured when all parties concerned can exercise their legal rights. Even if such complaints have not much of chance to succeed, international legal assistance procedures are sometimes delayed for months.

"Foreign authorities would have to guarantee not to use the information in criminal proceedings as evidence until the ordinary international legal aid procedures in Switzerland had been completed."

The Lead Swiss Federal Prosecutor, Mr. Michael Lauber, therefore pleads for more efficiency and speed. A more dynamic international legal assistance would allow the SFPO to exchange information more quickly. However, the foreign authorities would have to guarantee that they did not use the information in criminal proceedings as evidence until the ordinary international legal aid procedures in Switzerland had been completed.

Mr. Lauber is convinced that a dynamic interpretation of the existing Swiss legal framework for international legal assistance would not only strengthen international cooperation in this area, but also lead to a reduction of complaints submitted only for delays. It is also clear that the position of affected parties would touched in one or the other way. Such a change would take place "in the important paradigm shift that Switzerland has accomplished and continues to do in the area of co-operation in international tax matters," so the SFPO.

[Free translation of an article published in Neue Zürcher Zeitung on April 6, 2017]

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Mondaq uses cookies on this website. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies as set out in our Privacy Policy.

Learn More