Polanski shock: the Swiss tipped off the Americans

Speculation that the Swiss authorities helped the Americans pick up Roman Polanski in order to ease tensions between the two countries in the wake of an offshore banking scandal increased overnight. This is because the Associated Press revealed last night that it was the Swiss who tipped off the US in September that the filmmaker was about to cross the border from France to attend the Zurich Film Festival.

Until now, the story had been that the ever-vigilant Los Angeles district attorney's office had been keeping tabs on Polanski, still wanted for sentencing in California after his conviction in 1978 for having unlawful sex with an underage girl.

They pounced when they read on the internet that the festival organisers were planning to give Polanski a lifetime achievement award, and he had agreed to attend. This would put him outside his "safe zone" of France, where, as a French citizen, he could never be extradited.

On September 26, so the story went, having prepared all the formalities, the Americans arranged for his arrest at Zurich airport. He has been in custody, awaiting extradition proceedings, ever since - and, indeed, only yesterday he had a bail request refused because he remains an obvious flight risk.

But the AP has seen a series of emails, obtained under a public records request, which show that Polanski's arrest all began with an urgent fax sent by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice to the US Office of International Affairs on September 22. The fax stated that the director was expected in Zurich and asked whether the US would be submitting a request for his arrest.

The tip-off was passed to the Los Angeles district attorney's office, which basically answered "Yes, please!" and immediately began drafting an arrest warrant.

The question is, why would the Swiss suddenly hand the 76-year-old to the American on a plate, never having blanched at his frequent trips to Switzerland over the years? He even owns a ski chalet there.

The answer is pretty clear to those who have been following the long-running UBS offshore banking scandal. As business columnist Edward Helmore wrote for The First Post at the time of Polanski's arrest, the Swiss authorities were anxious that federal prosecutors in Miami might widen their investigation into how the Swiss bank assisted American citizens avoid taxes by using offshore accounts set up by UBS bankers.

A partial settlement of the affair, reached this summer, some weeks before Polanski's arrest, involved UBS handing over to US tax authorities more than 4,400 names tied to secret Swiss accounts. Back in September, there appeared to be a real risk that this could open the way for revelations of tax evasion at other banks - an outcome the Swiss would want to avoid.

"If any Swiss institution needs to get back into America's good graces it is UBS," Helmore concluded.

After Polanski's arrest, head of international law at the Swiss Foreign Ministry, Paul Seger, said: "We've reviewed the agreement with the United States. If a demand is filed in good and proper form, Switzerland has no choice but to comply. Otherwise, we would be violating our international obligations."

He did not explain that the "demand" could never have been made by the Americans if the Swiss hadn't tipped them off.