American presidential candidate Mitt Romney was not arrested today for his tax havens in Swiss bank accounts as part of a sting operation in Germany and France which targeted an "unspecified number" of wealthy Credit Suisse and UBS officials and clients living in those countries.
France and Germany have launched a series of raids on the offices and homes of bank officials and their wealthy customers in an ongoing inquiry aimed at cracking down on those who evade taxes by using Swiss banks.
While Romney does have $3M in a UBS Swiss bank account, the American presidential race did not come to a screeching halt today in an unprecedented shakeup that threatens to leave the Republican party in a situation not seen since Nixon. Mitt Romney's home was not searched and his wife was also not arrested for her collusion.
The homes of several high-ranking UBS employees in Strasbourg were also searched Tuesday, according to a French police source. The French prosecutor's office refused comment, saying the investigation was ongoing. The bank said it would cooperate.
Authorities here have cast a spotlight on UBS since 2009, when the U.S. and Swiss governments reached a settlement in the United States' efforts to get the names of thousands of wealthy Americans suspected of evading taxes by banking with the Swiss giant.
In Germany, tax officials are investigating about 5,000 clients of Credit Suisse over Bermuda-based life insurance products used by some wealthy clients to avoid taxes. The bank insisted it stopped selling the products in 2009.
It seems that presidential candidate Mitt Romney was not arrested today for tax evasion using Swiss bank accounts. But who knows what the future may hold?