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German police raided the offices of Deutsche Bank in connection with the revelations of Panama Papers and as part of an investigation into allegations of money laundering.
About 170 police officers, prosecutors and tax inspectors searched six Deutsche Bank officers in and around Frankfurt, the prosecutor's office said. The investigators are investigating the activities of two Deutsche Bank employees who allegedly helped clients set up offshore companies to launder money, he added.
The Panama Papers, published by the Guardian and a consortium of international journalists in April 2016, revealed how offshore tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands, were being used to hide billions of dollars.
The prosecutor's office stated that they seized written and electronic business documents. Police cars were parked in front of the bank's headquarters, the largest lender in Germany.
In a statement, Deutsche Bank confirmed the raid. "The investigation relates to the Panama Papers case. More details will be communicated as soon as they are known. We are cooperating fully with the authorities, "he said.
The files of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca formed the basis of the Panama Papers survey and included more than 10 million documents. The revelations provoked demonstrations in several countries and led to the resignation of several heads of state, notably in Iceland and Pakistan.
Several banks, including Swedish lenders Nordea and Handelsbanken, have already been fined by the financial regulators for violating the money laundering rules following the Panama Papers.
Prosecutors said they were investigating whether Deutsche Bank could have helped clients set up "offshore companies" in tax havens, so that funds transferred to Deutsche Bank accounts could bypbad the measures. protection against money laundering.
In 2016 alone, more than 900 clients were served by a registered Deutsche Bank subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands, generating 300 million euros, prosecutors said.
They said that Deutsche Bank employees failed to fulfill their obligations by neglecting to report suspicions of money laundering involving foreign clients and companies involved in tax evasion schemes.
The investigation is distinct from another money laundering scandal involving the Danish lender Danske Bank, in which Deutsche Bank is involved.
The Danish prosecutor on Wednesday laid preliminary charges against Danske for alleged violations of the country's money laundering law in his Estonian branch.
Danske is the subject of an investigation for suspicious payments of a total amount of 200 billion euros from 2007 and a source directly informed of the case told Reuters that Deutsche Bank helped to process most of the payments.
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