Liechtenstein named as "un-cooperative tax haven"

Germany said it was rallying fellow European nations to force Liechtenstein to adhere to EU tax rules and a day after the EU agreed the principality's accession to the Schengen free travel zone.
Liechtenstein called for a compromise with European nations amid a worldwide tax fraud probe focused on its banks but said German agents who uncovered the scam committed a crime.Prime Minister Otmar Hasler said in Brussels the tiny principality wanted to reach a "reasonable agreement" with neighbours calling for greater transparency as they hunt for billions of euros (dollars) hidden from the taxman.
"We are bringing pressure and influence to bear on a European level," German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told the Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper.He said the issue would be raised at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels next week and repeated a threat to force all Germans who invest in Liechtenstein to declare their transactions or be taxed at source.The principality has so far defied calls to liftthe lid on its banking system's trademark secrecy and assist in foreign probes into tax fraud, drawing a threat from Germany to refuse to ratify its Schengen membership.
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaueble warned in Brussels on Thursday that tax havens "are not compatible with European integration."A fortnight ago, Germany began investigating 600 of its citizens featuring on a client list of a Liechtenstein bank containing 1,400 names which it then made available to other nations.
The United States, Britain, Australia, Italy, France, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, Greece and Spain this week said they are hunting for taxpayers hiding their money in the tiny Alpine state.German authorities claim they were cheated of "hundreds of million of euros" in taxes while Britain said it was looking for "at least 100 million pounds".Liechtenstein an "un-cooperative tax haven" by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- has retaliated angrily to the attacks on the banking sector that makes up 30 percent of the economy.After announcing a criminal investigation against Heinrich Kieber, the man suspected of stealing the client list from the LGT bank, it signaled that it could bring charges against the German spies who bought it from him."We had to act. The investigation is a very serious matter because misappropriation of bank data is a crime," Justice Minister Klaus Tschuetscher told a press conference in Vaduz.
A government spokesman said the probe will target "all those involved" in the transaction and Tschuetscher called on Germany to name the agents who bought the data for four million euros (six million dollars).Prime Minister Hasler said Liechtenstein was prepared to conclude accords on banking reforms that were on the table but it was unclear whether this would address the demands of Germany and other EU states."Our aim is to achieve a successful conclusion of the comprehensive tax fraud agreement that is currently under negotiation," he said.
Last week, he had insisted that Liechtenstein would not investigate foreign clients unless they were believed to have contravened the country's own lenient tax laws.
In Germany, the scandal has claimed the scalp of Deutsche Post's chief executive and Handelsblatt daily reported that other prominent figures, including the head of a large southern German food company, were also implicated.A spokesman for LGT told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the bank's foreign clients had already complained last year that it was in the sights of tax authorities.
"We had the first indications that investigations were being carried out on the basis of stolen data in the summer of 2007," Hans-Martin Uehlinger told the newspaper."These signs did not come from Germany," he added.Finance Minister Steinbrueck defended Berlin's decision to buy confidential data and suggested that the foreign intelligence agency, the BND, came across the information by chance.