19,000 accounts, a Washington - Swiss UBS cover-up?

[WhiskeyGirl]

"POLITICAL COVER-UP"

"They should immediately null and void the agreement with UBS," said Birkenfeld, who noted that less than 300 UBS client names have been turned over to the IRS and Justice Department so far.

"They should fine the bank properly and demand all 19,000 accounts," he said.

"As of today they have, what? 14 indictments," Birkenfeld said, making the point that a relatively low number had been charged in the Justice Department's investigation so far.

Birkenfeld himself is the only individual to have been sentenced to substantial prison time.

"Where are all the people that are politically connected in Washington that had accounts at UBS?" Birkenfeld asked. "I'm telling you this is a political cover-up. Why is it that the whistleblower is the only guy in jail? I mean this is insanity," he said.

UBS declined to comment on Birkenfeld's comments.

But in support of his allegation of a cover-up, Birkenfeld noted that U.S. authorities had detained Martin Liechti, then Zurich-based head UBS's cross-border business, while he was visiting Miami in April 2008.

In his role as an informant, Birkenfeld said he had called for Liechti's arrest because he knew who all the bank's key U.S. clients were. Liechti was held only briefly and never charged.

The Justice Department has declined to comment on Liechti.

"Why would you let the kingpin who knew all the key clients of UBS go?" Birkenfeld asked in the interview. "They lost all their leverage."

Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center in Washington and one of Birkenfeld's lead attorneys, said 66 people were on the list of current or former UBS bankers Birkenfeld was now encouraging the Justice Department to indict.

They had all been affiliated with the bank's offices in Zurich, Geneva and Lugano, said Kohn, who said the list was not yet being made public. In addition to Birkenfeld himself, only one UBS executive, former global head of wealth management Raoul Weil, has been indicted as part of the U.S. probe.

"The political influence of UBS is massive," Kohn said, when asked about the bank's ties in Washington. "They've purposely put in high place politicians or former politicians." (Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

more here - http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Jailed-whistleblower-urges-new-drive-against-UBS-2010-04-19T110029Z-INTERVIEW

Main Street gets Obamacare and perpetual debt.

What does Washington get?  What do all those 19,000 accounts get?  A free ride?  A cover-up?

Why isn't the list of 19,000 accounts public?