Poland will sign a landmark agreement with Switzerland in April which will give it access to previously undisclosed information about the bank account details of tax cheats and allegedly corrupt politicians.

The agreement could pave the way for investigators to rap up probes into the dealings of allegedly corrupt left wing politicians, says the government.

“It’s a total breakthrough,” says deputy Finance Minister Maciej Grabowski, who negotiated the deal. Switzerland will no longer be able to keep its Polish clients’ bank records secret.

The Polish-Swiss agreement will not only enable Poland’s Tax Office to detect tax cheats, but may finally put to an end to the so-called Vogl Scandal.

Peter Vogel (originally Piotr Filipczyński), convicted murderer and later banker at Coutts Bank AG in Switzerland, is suspected of conducting illegal business transactions for some of Poland’s prominent left-wing politicians, including Jacek Piechota, Wieslaw Kaczmarek, Marek Ungier and thirty other people.

Vogel was also allegedly responsible for transferring bribes to Warsaw officials’ secret bank accounts involved in a corruption scandal involving tenders for Warsaw metro system. A long investigation into the case, run by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, Internal Security Agency and Justice Ministry, turned out to be unsuccessful.

The Finance Ministry hopes that after signing the agreement Switzerland stops being a tax heaven for unjust Poles. Currently Poland is negotiating similar deals with other low tax countries, such as the Isle of Man. (mg/pg)