Germany Expands Tax Evasion Investigation Involving Credit Suisse

Source: NYT

Swiss banks may have thought they had put costly legal battles over tax evasion claims behind them, but authorities in Germany and the United States seem to disagree.

A German prosecutor said Wednesday that he had widened an investigation into alleged tax evasion by employees of Credit Suisse by raiding offices and homes of four employees of the bank. The investigation, which has been under way since last summer, initially focused on five others — four current bank employees and one former.

“This is a very, very extensive investigation,” Ralf Möllmann, a prosecutor in Düsseldorf, Germany, said. He declined to speculate about how much longer the investigation would take.

The prosecutors are looking into charges that Credit Suisse bankers helped German clients to evade taxes at home by keeping assets in Swiss bank accounts, Mr. Möllmann said. The prosecutor raided offices in the German cities of Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Frankfurt and two smaller locations, which Mr. Möllmann said he did not want to name because it could give away the identity of the people under investigation.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/business/global/24tax.html