UBS refuses U.S. demand for information on 52,000 customers

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 -- UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, refused on Thursday to provide information on 52,000 U.S. clients as demanded by the U.S. government in a lawsuit filed earlier in the day in Miami, Florida.

The U.S. government filed the lawsuit against UBS, asking the court to order the Swiss banking giant to disclose to the U.S. tax authorities the identities of the international bank's U.S. customers with secret Swiss accounts, according to a press release by the U.S. Justice Department.

"As many as 52,000 U.S. customers hid their UBS accounts from the government in violation of the tax laws," the press release said.

In a statement issued on Thursday, UBS said it "intends to challenge" enforcement of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) "John doe" summons. "John doe" is the moniker for customers with secret Swiss accounts.

"UBS believes it has substantial defenses to the enforcement of the John Doe summons and intends to vigorously contest the enforcement of the summons in the civil proceeding," said the Swiss bank in the statement, which is available on its website.

"Objections to the enforcement of the IRS summons are based upon U.S. law, the terms of UBS's Qualified Intermediary Agreement with the IRS, Swiss financial privacy and other laws, and the principles of international comity that require U.S. courts to take into account foreign laws," it said.

The IRS summons "seeks information regarding a substantial number of undisclosed accounts maintained by U.S. persons at UBS in Switzerland, whose information is protected from disclosure by Swiss financial privacy laws," UBS said.

The lawsuit was filed a day after the Justice Department announced it had reached an agreement with UBS under which the bank agreed to pay 780 million dollars in fines, penalties, interest and restitution to the U.S. government.

"As part of the deferred prosecution agreement and in an unprecedented move, UBS, based on an order by the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority, has agreed to immediately provide the United States government with the identities of, and account information for, certain United States customers of UBS's cross-border business," the department said in a statement on Wednesday.