A local bank has found itself in the middle of a high-profile United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax evasion investigation but the bank says it wants to cooperate fully on the matter.
International news sources including Bloomberg reported yesterday that CIBC FirstCaribbean (FCIB) was expected to be called on to provide information to the IRS about possible tax evasion through offshore accounts held by American customers.
A ruling by United States District Judge Thelton Henderson on Tuesday, allowed the IRS to seek information from FirstCaribbean’s United States customers though a mechanism called “John Doe summons” on Wells Fargo & Co. which holds FirstCaribbean’s correspondent account.
According to Bloomberg: “At least 129 taxpayers voluntarily disclosed to the IRS that they held undeclared accounts at FCIB, based in Barbados, according to an affidavit by IRS revenue agent Cheryl Kiger. Several other people have been convicted of financial crimes involving accounts at FCIB, according to Kiger.”
But in an immediate response yesterday evening Mark St Hill, CIBC FirstCaribbean’s managing director and senior coverage officer for the Barbados Operating Company said that the regional bank was fully cooperating with authorities on the sensitive issue.
St Hill told MIDWEEK NATION: “We are committed to complying with all laws and regulations required. We are currently working with Wells Fargo, our correspondent bank, to understand the nature of the order.”
The senior banking executive added: “It is our intention to cooperate with authorities in accordance with the laws of all the respective jurisdictions.”
Meanwhile, Kiger in explaining the IRS action said: “The persons in the ‘John Doe’ class may have failed to report the existence of foreign financial accounts under their control, failed to report income, evaded income taxes, or otherwise violated the internal revenue laws of the United States.”
At the same time Ancel Martinez, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg:
“We will review the summons and respond as legally required.”Wells Fargo is the fourth largest American bank by assets.
