Paris investigators placed the French branch of Swiss bank UBS under formal investigation Friday on suspicion it helped try to persuade rich French clients to open undeclared accounts in Switzerland, a legal source said, reports GloblPost.
UBS was also named as an "assisted witness" in an investigation into a money laundering operation that was part of a tax fraud, the source added.
The alleged offences date back to the 2000s, the source said.
Investigators suspect UBS allowed its Swiss staff to illegally approach French clients, and to have set up a shadow accounting system to hide movements of capital between France and Switzerland.
A former head of UBS France, Patrick de Fayet, a former head of the bank's office in the northern French city of Lille and a UBS executive in the eastern city of Strasbourg are already under investigation.
The French probe was launched after allegations from a former UBS employee turned whistleblower.
Read more of this AFP report published by GlobalPost.