French authorities have charged a former managing director of the French arm of Swiss bank UBS in connection with a probe into alleged tax evasion, a judicial source told AFP on Monday.

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Patrick de Fayet is the third person charged in the affair.

He was managing director of the bank's French operations between 2008 and 2009.

The others charged include the former head of a UBS office in the northern city of Lille, as well as a current manager at a French affiliate of the bank.

UBS is suspected of having helped clients hide transfers of funds between France and Switzerland and of allowing its Swiss operations to illegally canvass for clients in France.

UBS paid a $780 million fine to the United States in 2009 to settle a tax fraud case which charged that it helped US citizens open offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.

Authorities in several European countries are probing suspected tax evasion involving Swiss banks, including in France and in Germany.