The U.S. Senate accuses Caterpillar of non-payment of $ 2.4 billion.

The leaders of Caterpillar Inc., the largest international construction and mining equipment company, will appear before the US Senate. According to investigators, the American corporation spent 85 percent of the profits of foreign missions through a Swiss subsidiary in order to evade taxes in America.

In a report published by the US Senate Economic Investigation Subcommittee, Caterpillar did not pay $ 2.4 billion in taxes between 2000 and 2012. The company channeled about $ 8 billion in profits through Switzerland, benefiting from 4-6 percent preferential taxation in that European country and a special treaty with the Swiss government.

Senator Carl Levin, who is investigating a tax optimization scheme, says the corporation has created a Swiss subsidiary with the sole purpose of not paying taxes in the United States.

In turn, Caterpillar representatives said that such an economic scheme is legal and is practiced by a number of large international companies with offices on different continents. “The company is built on such a system,” Julie Lagasi, Caterpillar vice president of divisional finance, said ahead of the hearing.

Along with the company's management, representatives of the accounting firm, which advised Caterpillar on such an economic scheme, will be summoned to the hearing.

Earlier, the Senate held hearings on corporate tax evasion with the heads of companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard.