Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland and the AP thinks they know why.
The Associated Press accidentally posted an internal memo on the Internet, theorizing that Swiss authorities decided to arrest 76-year-old director Roman Polanksi on a 31-year-old warrant because "they're under intense pressure over UBS and want to throw the U.S. a bone."
UBS admitted in February that it helped thousand of American citizens evade paying taxes and is still in negotiations about handing over details of secret accounts to the IRS.
Polanski, who fled the U.S. in 1978 rather than face a prison term for illegally having sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, was detained by Swiss authorities at the Zurich airport on Saturday en route to a film festival where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award.
The AP memo was posted to several sites that took it down as soon as they discovered the mistake, but Forbes allowed the story to stand.
The memo circulated among several reporters. Here is the thread (including all of their typos):
OK, can you do some more probing? New York will want to know
frank's out today.
i checked already, and so did zurich. they say the question is irrelevant. he answered me with the quote i used, about we knew when he was coming this time. he's been here many times in the past, we think.
thx brad. aptn is aware, but unfortunately won't make it in time, but is hoping to catch tail end.
i'm pushing out another writethru with some more background details before press conference.
no surprise, new york is really hot on this.
they particularly want to know why now. (has he never set foot in switzerland before?) sheila, theorizes that's because they're under intense pressure over ubs and want to throw the U.S. a bone, but can yo ucheck with justice department sources there?
is frank around too, or are you alone?
u can tell aptn press conf 1700 (15 gmt) in bern at the parliament
i'll watch it live on internet
Polanksi -- who was born in France and raised in Poland -- has lived in France for three decades since he fled the U.S.
French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was “astonished” by the arrest, according to a report in the New York Times.
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said he told Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey that France expects Polanksi's rights "to be fully respected and that this affair rapidly find a favorable resolution,” the Times report stated.
As of Sunday morning, the U.S. Justice Department had not commented.
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