Credit Suisse tax fraud scandal

Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse, one of Europe's leading global financial services companies, has had 13 of its German branches raided by police in connection with a tax fraud inquiry.

Police investigators reportedly raided the offices over allegations that bank staff helped clients to evade taxes. The scale of the investigation is said to be sizable, with 150 investigators taking part in the search.

While details into the raid aren't entirely clear, it is reported that tax officials bought a CD in February that allegedly contained information on approximately 1100 wealthy Germans. There were reports at the time that the authorities paid in the region of €2.5 million to an unnamed individual for the disc .

Further investigation of the data led prosecutors to believe that some €1.2 billion of undeclared income was stashed in Swiss accounts by the individuals under scrutiny. Cases were launched against the individuals, but now prosecutors are turning their sights on Credit Suisse staff, who may have aided clients in avoiding taxes.

European tax evasion

Although Credit Suisse's chief executive Renato Fassbind has said in the past that it is likely some of his company's wealthier clients were listed on a CD stolen containing sensitive data, today there was no comment from him or the company on the allegations.

Business and individual tax evasion has been increasingly scrutinised over the past few years and a number of governments, including Germany, have in the past paid for data on individuals who are suspected of committing tax fraud.

Both the UK and France have done the same, where individuals have placed large amounts of money in secret accounts. However, with Credit Suisse now under suspicion, speculation is mounting that it won't be long before other major European businesses are exposed in relation to tax-related misdemeanours.

Earlier in the year, the Swiss parliament voted to approve a deal that would see information on suspected tax evaders passed to assorted authorities after accusations from the US that the Swiss bank UBS aided tax evaders.

Relevant articles:

1/3 of companies have intellectual property stolen | Could Libya buy BP shares? | Cybercrime affecting the UK

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: