Tax evaders from around the world have been investigated, fined and jailed for trying to hide their wealth in Liechtenstein, but a senator says Canadians suspected of using bank accounts there to dodge the taxman are getting off easy.
Thanks to secrecy laws that prevent other countries obtaining information from its banks, Liechtenstein has long been regarded as a perfect place to stash cash.
The would-be tax haven was cracked open in 2006, however, when whistleblower Heinrich Kieber handed German authorities a disc of stolen data.
The disc, for which Kieber was reportedly paid nearly 5 million euros, contained some 12,000 pages of information detailing all the account holders at Liechtenstein's largest financial institution, LGT.
Authorities in the United States, Germany and Australia subsequently imposed jail sentences and huge fines on those found to have been using accounts at the LGT bank to cheat the taxman.
Thanks to secrecy laws that prevent other countries obtaining information from its banks, Liechtenstein has long been regarded as a perfect place to stash cash.
The would-be tax haven was cracked open in 2006, however, when whistleblower Heinrich Kieber handed German authorities a disc of stolen data.
The disc, for which Kieber was reportedly paid nearly 5 million euros, contained some 12,000 pages of information detailing all the account holders at Liechtenstein's largest financial institution, LGT.
Authorities in the United States, Germany and Australia subsequently imposed jail sentences and huge fines on those found to have been using accounts at the LGT bank to cheat the taxman.