It must be nice to have friends in high places – even in the state prosecutor's office. When the state planned to raid the head office of Deutsche Bank to investigate a massive tax evasion scheme involving the illegal trading of CO2 emission certificates, some kind soul in the prosecutor's office called up the bank to warn of the impending raid. The tip-off call was captured on tape:
Deutsche Bank AG employees, who are suspects in a
nationwide probe over possible tax evasion linked to trading of
emissions allowances, were warned beforehand about a raid in the case,
a prosecutor said.The information was leaked to them before
prosecutors searched Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters on April
28, Guenter Wittig, spokesman for the city’s General Prosecutor’s
Office said in an interview. His office opened a separate probe in May
to investigate who may have leaked the information, he said.
The trading scheme involves 180 euros in tax evasion – "peanuts" compared to the billions of euros German tax payers had to shell out to bail out IKB Bank, another key Deutsche Bank customer.
It appears that in this trading scheme involving CO2 certificates, Deutsche Bank was trading with highly dubious organizations, some of which were little more than post office boxes with few if any assets:
Das Netzwerk aber, zu dem der Bank-Kunde gehörte, soll mit den Lizenzen
in der Absicht gehandelt haben, sich Steuergeld zu erschwindeln.
Angeblicher Schaden für den Fiskus: mehrere hundert Millionen
Euro. Etliche dieser Geschäfte wurden über die Deutsche Bank
abgewickelt, nun stehen sieben ihrer Angestellten im Verdacht, bei
Betrügereien geholfen zu haben; unter ihnen ein Gebietsleiter. Die
Frankfurter Generalstaatsanwaltschaft hat im März in einem Vermerk
notiert, bei den Bank-Beschäftigten bestehe sogar der Verdacht einer
"bandenmäßig" begangenen Umsatzsteuer-Hinterziehung.(The bank customers were part of a network that was trading in CO2 licenses with the expressed purpose of swindling the state of tax money. The damage to the German Inland Revenue is estimated at several hundred million euros. A large volume of trades were executed through Deutsche Bank. Seven bank employees are suspected of being involved in the fraudulent business, including a department head. The chief prosecutor in Frankfurt noted in March that the employees were suspected of playing a key role in a "gangster-like" scheme of evading the German turnover tax.)
Why did they do it? The bankers in Frankfurt were undoubtedly under enormous pressure after Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann promised investors a 25% return on capital. Here was easy money – who cares if the taxpayers lose out. Evidently they also were promised gifts of motorcycles and all-expenses paid trips to Saint-Tropez from the highly appreciative trading partners.
One mystery remains: what was in it for whomever it was in the state prosecutor's office who tipped off Deutsche Bank about the raid? Why was it more important for that individual – or individuals – to be in the good graces of the bank rather than to see justice done?
