Tax evasion
January 30, 2010
The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) said on Friday, January 29, that the informant claims to have a list of 1,500 investors with bank accounts in Switzerland who have avoided paying taxes in Germany.
The newspaper said the informant wants 2.5 million euros ($3.5 million) in exchange and that Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is now weighing whether to agree to the deal.
While the potential deal may seem pricey, the windfall for German tax authorities could reportedly be as high as 100 million euros. According to the FAZ, the informant provided tax auditors with five of the cases to prove the validity of the list.
The case resembles the 2008 tax scandal, when the German Federal Intelligence Service paid as much as 5 million euros for a CD-ROM with a list of people using accounts at a Liechtenstein bank to avoid German taxes. Among those caught was the then head of Deutsche Post, Klaus Zumwinkel.
In the wake of the recent global economic crisis, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) upped the pressure on countries known to be tax havens, demanding that countries on a so-called gray list sign bilateral tax transparency agreements with twelve other countries.
After coming under international pressure to do more to prevent tax evasion, Switzerland signed twelve such agreements, although not with Germany.
hf/AP/dpa
Editor: Toma Tasovac