Wegelin & Co., Switzerland’s oldest bank, announced yesterday that it has helped Americans evade paying at least $1.2 billion in taxes over the past ten years, and said it will close after paying the United States $57.8 million in restitution and fines. Otto Bruderer, a managing partner of Wegelin, appeared in a US court to plead guilty on behalf of the bank. This is the first time a non-US bank has pleaded guilty to participating in a tax evasion scheme.
We will be pointing the finger at another nasty scheme tonight, this time closer to home. A rogue tour operator took eleven Chinese tourists to Auckland City Mission's Christmas Day lunch for the needy. It has been revealed that Xing Yu Tours, who is not licensed under Tourism New Zealand's approved tour group scheme, sold packages hyping a grand Christmas buffet, a traditional Kiwi BBQ, and visits to a wildlife reserve and gardens. The grand buffet turned out to be the City Mission's charity lunch while other venues were public parks and a sausage sizzle. Not only did the eleven tourists get taken for a ride by those crooks, the gatecrasher incident was also unfair on genuine guests at the annual Christmas lunch. The bellend behind those package tours did a mean and deceitful thing and he should be sent to jail for it.
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