ALTHOUGH the recession has hit everyone hard, it has also brought together economies that now want to collectively crusade against tax evaders.

The government of Spain has confirmed that it has served notices against Spaniards who held undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland. “They would have to put their affairs in order as well as pay the penalties,” Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado confirmed on state owned television.

Spain, struggling to reduce its double digit budget deficit, was intensifying its fight against tax frauds. Salgado informed that the government had already recovered more than euro €35 billion in its tax fraud fighting efforts and was determined to chase the tax dodgers. It was perfecting its information sharing mechanisms with what used to be uncooperative jurisdictions. “Today the countries of the world were together on doing away with tax havens,” she said.

Newspapers in Spain had earlier reported that the government had discovered 3000 undeclared accounts of Spaniards, holding around Euros €6 billion, with the Swiss private banking unit of HSBC Holdings PLC.