Germany. An employee of Swiss bank Credit Suisse has handed over data about citizens who have evaded taxes to German authorities. The amount of hidden capital is estimated to be several billion euros.
Searches of apartments belonging to German clients of Credit Suisse are being conducted across Germany. The searches have been prompted by new data regarding fictitious insurance contracts, so-called Bermuda products, which have enabled billions of euros to elude the German tax authorities.
According to information from Handelsblatt, the case involves around 7,000 clients, the majority of whom are German citizens. The amount of capital which has been hidden from the tax inspectorate adds up to billions of euros. According to German investigators, the list of client data which has come into their possession guarantees almost 100% that they will be able to track down huge sums which have been hidden from German tax collectors. The average investment is about EUR 500,000, but in some cases, deposits of up to EUR 12 million or more are involved.
It is still not known which of the bank's employees copied the data and passed it to the German authorities. Whether they did it for reward or not therefore also remains a mystery.
InfoWatch's analysis center recalls that this is not the first time that an employee of a Swiss Bank has handed over copied information about money hidden by its clients. Germany has twice reached agreement with employees of Liechtenstein banks regarding handing over data about tax evaders. In 2010, an HSBC employee handed over to British authorities a disk containing data about citizens who were circumventing the law.
Nikolai Fedotov comments: «This is the fourth leak from Swiss banks – which were once renowned for their secrecy. The process began when authorities (first French, then German) started to pay money to malicious insiders. Bank employees discovered that it was a seller's market where their insider knowledge was concerned.
It seems that the 'Swiss gnomes' can only really keep a secret when no-one is offering to pay for it to be disclosed. As soon as the offer was there, it all fell apart and the raids began. The 'Swiss bank' brand is showing cracks».
