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Byline: Hada Messia, Vasco Cotovio and Ivana Kottasová, CNN (CNN) -- An Italian prosecutor on Saturday asked for life sentences for two American students charged with murdering a police officer [...]

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The United States Department of Justice is investigating possible tax evasion by American taxpayers who did so by failing to report interest in HSBC Holdings PLC foreign accounts in Singapore and India as required by law.

Swiss bank US AG had agreed to provide the United States Internal Revenue Service with the names 4,450 Americans who have bank accounts there as the IRS pursues tax evasion investigations. That agreement was given legal footing with the approval a bill by Switzerland's Parliament that will let the government provide the names.

The United States Internal Revenue Service is a little closer to getting the names of UBS AG's American depositors who it suspects of tax evasion after Switzerland's lower house passed a bill allowing the information to be given. One snag: the bill is subject to a referendum before enactment.

A bill that would have allowed UBS AG to supply the United States with information on the bank accounts of 4,450 American clients who are allegedly evading taxes was defeated by the lower house of Switzerland. An earlier deal had been reached between the two countries to supply the information, but that deal was ruled to have violated Switzerland's domestic laws by a Swiss court.

Swiss legislators are planning to vote on a settlement that would see UBS AG supply the United States authorities with information on the Swiss bank accounts of 4,450 wealthy American clients. The vote is thought unlikely to be influenced by a recent parliamentary report that criticizes the Swiss government for its approach to the financial crisis.

An agreement between the United States and Switzerland in which UBS AG would hand over a list of 4,450 American-held offshore accounts to the U.S. for investigation of tax evasion has to be redefined in light of a Swiss court's ruling in a case brought by an American depositor. The court rules that for UBS to turn over bank records would violate the country's bank secrecy laws.

A wrench has been thrown into an agreement between the United States and UBS AG that has UBS providing U.S. authorities with bank account information on Americans suspected of tax evasion. A Swiss court issued a ruling in the case of one such American, saying that private-bank information shouldn't be given to American authorities.

Information about accounts held in UBS AG by Americans that total 1 million Swiss francs (US$993,000), and suspicious accounts as low as 250,000 francs will be turned over to the United States Internal Revenue Service by the Swiss government. The Voluntary Disclosure Program has been inundated with applicants and it it not likely that they will be prosecuted.

As a result of rich Americans taking advantage of the tax amnesty deal negotiated between the U.S. and Swiss Bank UBS AG, almost ten other banks have been revealed as repositories for their money, and thus will become targets for the United States Internal Revenue Service's continuing tax evasion investigation.

As the United States government tax evasion investigation of clients of Swiss bank UBS AG widens, it is revealed through documents that the bank and independent advisers aided American clients in concealing money by utilizing entities created in Hong Kong.

UBS AG client Jeffrey P. Chernick of New York has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and concealing over $8 million in Swiss bank accounts. The United States Internal Revenue Service is seeking access to bank accounts held by Americans in Swiss banks as it investigates tax evasion. U.S. and Swiss agencies are negotiating with UBS AG.