Deutsche chief probed in tax investigation
PROSECUTORS yesterday raided Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters as part of an ongoing investigation into possible tax evasion around carbon permits trading.
Co-chief executive Juergen Fitschen and chief finance officer Stefan Krause are among 25 individuals involved in the investigation.
Seven staff are believed to have been suspended last month, though other staff are still at the bank and five were arrested yesterday.
The investigation began in Spring 2010 and initially focused around seven staff, though it recently widened out to 25.
“Two of Deutsche Bank’s management board members Juergen Fitschen and Stefan Krause are involved in the investigations as they signed the value-added tax statement for 2009,” Deutsche Bank said. “We continue to cooperate fully with the authorities in this matter.”
It is the individuals, rather than the bank itself, who are being investigated by the authorities.
In a previous case around the carbon permits trading market six men were jailed. Deutsche Bank was not prosecuted in that case, but the judge did warn the bank had created the conditions in which evasion could take place.