This appeal, announced Monday in a press release in Geneva, suspends the penalty of 3.75 million euros in fine and the confiscation of one billion pronounced on appeal on December 13.

On the other hand, the 800 million euros in damages that have been awarded to the state can be demanded immediately, according to a judicial source.

The press release explains that "this will allow the bank to thoroughly assess the verdict of the Court of Appeal and determine the next steps, in the best interests of its stakeholders."

The bank has provisioned 450 million euros for this dispute.

The Court of Cassation, the highest court of the French judicial order, examines only compliance with the rules of law and not the substance of the disputes.

The global wealth management giant has been convicted a second time for having, between 2004 and 2012, illegally approached taxpayers, in particular spotted during receptions, hunting parties or golf tournaments, in order to convince them to open non-compliant accounts. -declared in Switzerland.

The most severe

It is "established" that the bank based "a part of its global success" on "the conquest of customers who did not respect their tax obligations, to which it provided banking services conducive to opacity and concealment ", according to the decision.

The court of appeal however chose a sanction very different from that of the court in February 2019: it pronounced a fine of 3.75 million euros, a confiscation of 1 billion on the deposit of 1.1 billion already paid by UBS and it awarded the State, civil party, 800 million euros in damages.

In the first instance, the bank was fined a record 3.7 billion euros.

The law provides that for a legal person the maximum amount of the fine incurred for aggravated money laundering of tax fraud is 3.75 million euros or half of the sums laundered.

Based on this second option, the court ordered a fine of 3.7 billion euros.

If the Court of Appeal does advance a total estimate of hidden funds at 8.5 billion euros, it considers that, given recent decisions of the Court of Cassation, it cannot apply this method of calculation because the " exact amount "remains" undetermined ".

Even much lower, the sanction pronounced last week remains the most severe imposed on a bank in France in a case of tax fraud.

UBS has "developed and implemented a double illegal process: canvassing French tax residents anxious to avoid tax, when it was prohibited to do so, then laundering the funds received", summarizes the court which underlines the "particular gravity "of the facts, in a decision of over 180 pages.

Judged alongside its parent company, the French subsidiary UBS France, described by the court as a "simple Trojan horse" used to penetrate the French market, was acquitted of the prosecution for complicity in aggravated money laundering, but sentenced to 1.875 million d € fine for complicity in illegal canvassing - against 15 million at first instance.

Six former executives were also prosecuted.

Four were sentenced to terms of up to one year suspended imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros.

Two other men were released.

© 2021 AFP