In what can be seen as a move to avoid a fresh row with the US over bank secrecy, the Swiss Parliament Tuesday upheld an August-last-year treaty under which Switzerland will hand over thousands of files pertaining to suspected tax cheats to the US authorities.

According to the terms of the agreement, which will likely culminate the Swiss banking bigwig UBS AG’s three-year scuffle with US tax authorities, Switzerland had promised to help the US government’s trail of UBS’ 4,450 American customers who have supposedly hidden money from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The agreement, which was meticulously crafted last year by Bern and Washington last year, following months of negotiations between the US and Swiss governments, will have Switzerland divulging the names of the supposed
4,450 tax evaders

As per the information forwarded by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration, the Swiss authorities have, thus far, already transmitted the names of nearly 400 UBS clients who signed waivers as part of the voluntary disclosure program of the IRS. In addition, another 100 UBS clients gave their consent directly to Swiss authorities.

With the Swiss lawmakers having voted their approval of the agreement, a cautious-sounding IRS spokesman Frank Keith said in a statement: “While we look forward to a positive resolution of this matter, we remain prepared to use all available options, including the U. S. courts, should the present efforts fail.”