US tax prosecutors are examining more than 7,000 accounts from foreign banks beyond UBS as they work through data obtained after the high-profile prosecution of the Swiss bank, a top Justice Department lawyer said yesterday, according to Reuters.

The report highlights the fact that while UBS has, to date, been the most prominent foreign bank to have been targeted by US tax inspectors, other banks are in the potential firing line. Last year, Wegelin and Julius Baer, the Swiss private banks, both moved to stop providing offshore banking for US clients, a move also taken by UBS. Earlier this month, a US client of London-listed HSBC pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with assets secreted abroad to evade taxes.

"We are now getting documents from foreign banks that have never been produced before," Kevin Downing, the Justice Department lawyer, told a white collar crime conference in Miami, the news agency reported. "In the next couple of years you'll see the system flooded with these cases,” he was quoted as saying.

The 7,000 plus accounts are from banks in Switzerland and elsewhere, he said.

UBS settled a criminal and civil case with the US last year, paying $780 million and agreeing to turn over 4,450 accounts to the government.

However, the agreement between the Swiss and US governments for UBS to turn over 4,450 client names was derailed after a Swiss court ruled in favour of a UBS client, saying her actions did not constitute tax fraud. Traditionally, it has been a crime for a Swiss banker to disclose client details without permission.

A Swiss government minister recently suggested, meanwhile, that the country should move to treat tax evasion as a crime; currently, only tax fraud is so treated, while evasion is regarded as a misdemeanour. Tax evasion is a crime in countries such as the US and Germany.