There is a new twist in a Franco-Swiss financial controversy.

A newspaper has fresh claims about a list obtained by the French government of suspected tax evaders with Swiss bank accounts.

Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui alleges part of the list of 3,000 names was actually stolen from a Swiss bank by an employee who – the paper says – is now a “refugee” in France.

When the French budget minister revealed the existence of the list in August, he refused to say where the information came from.

It is reported that the bank in question has laid a formal complaint over the alleged theft. The government is also said to have opened an inquiry.

The bank maintains the affair concerns no more than 10 clients and the information is not sensitive.

France’s finance ministry told the paper it does not pay for information and does not reveal its sources.

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