Lucerne - Shareholders of Swiss bank UBS overwhelmingly supported Thursday a plan for the Swiss government to inject 6 billion francs (5 billion dollars) into the institution, which has been hit hard by the sub-prime and financial crises.

The bank said over 98 per cent of voting shareholders supported the move, which gives the government a temporary stake of 9.3 percent in the bank.

The capital, raised by issuing convertible bonds to the state, is part of a larger plan, which would let UBS shift up to 60 billion dollars of toxic assets to a special Swiss central bank fund.

The Swiss National Bank would guarantee 54 billion of these assets.

UBS posted write-downs of over 45 billion dollars due to its exposure to risky US sub-prime mortgages, making it one of the European banks hardest hit by the crisis.

The once-mighty bank also faced massive withdrawals of tens of billions of dollars by clients recently, which only began to ease after the rescue plan was announced by the government and the Swiss National Bank last month.

Speaking to shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting, UBS Chairman Peter Kurer said the bank had uncovered several cases of tax fraud which violated both US and Swiss laws.

Earlier this month a US investigation led to the indictment of a UBS executive for helping clients evade taxes.

Kurer, who took up his job earlier this year, also said former executives had given back or waived nearly 70 million francs in bonuses, included the bosses who headed the bank as it entered the current crisis.

This followed previously announced plans to restructure the company's compensation model, which will include the chairman and other executives giving up bonuses this year. In 2009, two-thirds of the annual bonuses would be held in case the bank suffered future losses or other problems.

Last month, prior to the bailout announcement, Kurer had said the bank would not require government help but now said the plan was needed. (dpa)