German offices of Credit Suisse raided by Dusseldorf prosecutor's office
14 Jul 2010
Thirteen offices of Swiss bank Credit Suisse Group AG) in Germany were today searched by the Dusseldorf prosecutor's office as part of a probe into whether the bank's employees helped clients evade taxes.
About 150 investigators from the Dusseldorf prosecutor's office took part in searches as part of an ongoing probe, where Credit Suisse helped German citizens evade taxes in their home country and park their money in Swiss bank accounts.
Earlier this year, German tax authorities paid about €2.5 million to an unnamed person in exchange for a disc containing names of 1,100 wealthy Germans, who had kept unaccounted money in Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank after UBS.
German tax authorities believe that Credit Suisse and its employees helped 1,100 Germans stash €1.2 billion of undeclared income in its bank in Switzerland.
"The Dusseldorf court has issued search warrants against unknown employees of Credit Suisse on suspicion of aiding tax evasion," the prosecutor's office said today in a statement.
After the US, France and Germany have come down heavily on Swiss banks for helping their citizens evade taxes at home by keeping their undeclared money in Swiss banks.
