Swiss UBS Bank Top Foreign Donor to US Political Campaigns - Watchdog

Swiss banking giant and tax haven facilitator UBS is the number one foreign donor to US political campaigns, a watchdog group said in a post.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — UBS was among the banks mentioned in the Panama Papers leak, which details offshore bank accounts owned by or linked to thousands of world leaders, public figures, celebrities and business executives.

"UBS Americas… has directed more money to Congress through its political action committee than subsidiaries of any other foreign company," the post, published in OpenSecrets.org on Thursday, stated.

UBS Americas’ political action committee, the post continued, donated roughly $1.5 million to US candidates in 2014 and has given $645,250 so far in 2016, with nearly 70 percent of contributions going to Republicans.

The Switzerland-based financial institution, the post added, paid US authorities $780 million in 2009 to settle tax evasion charges, only to have the US Department of Justice open a similar case in 2015.

Earlier on Thursday, a US Department of the Treasury official told Sputnik that the United States will take appropriate action if there have been any violations of US tax laws, although they could not comment specifically on the Panama Papers.