Credit Suisse Clients in Germany Questioned by Prosecutor Amid Tax Probe
Credit Suisse Group AG’s clients in Germany are being questioned by prosecutors as part of a probe into allegations that employees of Switzerland’s second-biggest bank may have helped customers evade taxes.
About 1,500 letters with questionnaires were sent to Credit Suisse clients who had voluntarily declared their hidden accounts, Nils Bussee, a spokesman for the Dusseldorf prosecutors’ office said by phone today. The recipients are being treated as witnesses in the case and are obliged to respond, he said, adding the office already received some answers.
German authorities earlier this year obtained a disk with data that prompted probes against some 1,100 customers of the Zurich-based bank. German offices of Credit Suisse were searched last month by the Dusseldorf investigators, who said they seized “substantial” amounts of data.
Germans with undeclared accounts began coming forward to declare their income after Germany said it would buy stolen data on Swiss bank accounts. More than 10,000 voluntary declarations were made in six weeks through the middle of March, according to a survey of finance authorities in Germany’s 16 states.
Credit Suisse spokesman Hans-Peter Waefler declined to comment today.
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger previously reported the bank’s German clients were being questioned.
The questionnaire sent to Credit Suisse clients asks for detailed information about how they chose to open an account with the bank and who advised them, Bussee said. The office plans to question more customers who’ve made voluntary disclosures and is also considering sending letters to people identified on the data disk, he added.
Dusseldorf prosecutors are investigating 175 cases, including some unidentified Credit Suisse employees. The rest of the cases were referred to other prosecutors based on where the suspects live.
To contact the reporters on this story: Elena Logutenkova in Zurich at elogutenkova@bloomberg.net Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at helfes@bloomberg.net
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