German prosecutors search the offices of Deutsche Bank in the context of investigations on tax havens

published

November 30, 2018 00:27:23

German financial giant Deutsche Bank is heading for an unknown territory this week after prosecutors have raided the bank's headquarters in Frankfurt and its offices in central Germany for its alleged complicity in setting up offshore companies in tax havens.

The spokeswoman for Frankfurt prosecutors, Nadja Niesen, said the investigation focused on two employees of Deutsche Bank, aged 50 to 46, and possibly on other suspects not yet identified.

The investigation was opened after an badessment of paradise revelations on tax havens and the previous report on Offshore Leaks' offshore bank accounts, she said.

The Papers revealed the financial secrets of the world's financial and criminal elite, detailing years of tax evasion and money laundering by the hundreds of millions, including millions of pounds from the private domain of the Queen.

The badysis "suggested that Deutsche Bank was helping its clients set up" offshore companies "in tax havens and that the proceeds of crime were being transferred from Deutsche Bank accounts" without the bank having reported.

In 2016 alone, more than 900 customers would have transferred some 311 million euros to one of these companies established in the British Virgin Islands, she said.

The suspects are accused of not reporting suspicious transactions even though there was "enough evidence" to have known about them.

Deutsche Bank confirmed that the authorities "were conducting an investigation in several of our offices in Germany".

"The investigation concerns the Panama Papers case," the bank said.

"More details will be communicated as soon as they are known.We fully cooperate with the authorities."

Deutsche Bank shares fell sharply after the announcement and lost 3.75% at noon trading in Frankfurt.

ABC / AP

Topics:

international financial institutions,

tax,

criminality,

fraud and corporate crime,

Germany