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CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - AUSTRALIAN tax authorities have launched raids on the properties of 20 wealthy Australians suspected of dodging tax through bank accounts in Liechtenstein, a top tax official said on Wednesday.
International pressure on Liechtenstein to lift the cloak of secrecy from its banks intensified on Tuesday as tax agencies across the globe widened probes into tax evasion involving accounts in the tiny European state.
After Britain and the Netherlands joined Germany in probing secret bank accounts in the landlocked tax haven, Australia said it had also launched investigations.
Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo said the Australian Taxation Office, or ATO, had conducted raids and issued notices to 20 Australian clients of LGT Group, which is a Liechtenstein bank owned by the principality's ruling family.
'If someone is trying to hide their money away, nowhere is safe. Ultimately information can come to the surface,' Mr D'Ascenzo told the Australian Financial Review newspaper.
He said amounts under investigation ranged from A$200,000 (S$262,079) to millions of dollars, describing Liechtenstein's secretive banking system as 'opaque'.
Mr D'Ascenzo ruled out working with German authorities, but would not say how Australian authorities obtained information on the 20 individuals, with investigations continuing.
Germany paid for information that led to a probe into large-scale tax evasion linked to Liechtenstein which has forced out the head of Deutsche Post.
List of 200
France has a list provided by Britain of 200 people connected with allegations of tax evasion via bank accounts in Liechtenstein, a budget ministry spokesman said here on Wednesday.
'France has a list of 200 names,' the spokesman said, substantiating press reports. 'This list was passed on by British authorities.'
On Tuesday, French Budget Minister Eric Woerth had said: 'We have a list of people who are concerned by transfers of capital to Liechtenstein. We have a list of several hundred people; we have had it since the start of the year, we are studying it.'
Liechtenstein is the focus of widespread attention from tax authorities and press coverage since it emerged that the German secret service had paid an informer for a list and other details of accounts in a bank in Liechtenstein.
German authorities suspect that the accounts were being used by Germans for tax evasion.
It has since emerged that tax authorities in some other countries would like information from the list, or already have data of their own on suspect accounts in Liechtenstein.
Germany has said that it will cooperate with requests for information. -- AFP, REUTERS
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