German prosecutors raided dozens of private homes around the country yesterday in an unprecedented tax evasion inquiry that has already claimed the scalp of Deutsche Post chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel.
The inquiry is based on information on a disk bought by the German secret service for €5 million containing over 1,000 names of account holders as well as correspondence, and details of deposits and withdrawals from Liechtenstein Global Trust (LGT) bank.
The matter will be top of the agenda when Liechtenstein prime minister Otmar Hasler visits chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today.
Liechtenstein officials have expressed annoyance that Berlin has used public money to purchase information LGT said was stolen from it in 2002.
Dr Merkel suggested yesterday that it was in Liechtenstein's own interest as a financial location to increase transparency of its banking sector and to help clear up this matter quickly.
The tax evasion came to light in spring 2006 when a man approached the German secret service (BND) with a disk. After examining samples, the federal government decided to pay a reported €5 million for the full file. German secret service agents passed on the money to the man, who has now asked for police protection.
Some German legal experts expressed doubts yesterday about whether the files, considering how they were acquired, would be admissible in a German court.
Yesterday some 37 tax officials and hundreds of police fanned out around the country yesterday, ringing doorbells of the homes of wealthy Germans in Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin.
Authorities said yesterday that between 20 and 25 raids are planned for every day this week.
