A wide-ranging investigation of tax evasion by Germans stashing their money abroad has led to the recovery of more than US$40 million and netted 163 people, a prosecutor said.
Similar probes have started elsewhere in Europe and Australia.
In brief televised comments from Bochum, Germany, prosecutor Hans-Ulrich Krueck said on Tuesday that so far 91 people targeted in the investigation "have admitted to the facts" and had made payments totaling US$41.2 million.
"At the moment, that sum is rising daily," Krueck said.
He added that another 72 people had turned themselves in to tax authorities.
Krueck did not name any names or say what they did for a living -- a marked contrast with a high-profile Feb. 14 raid on the house of then-Deutsche Post chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel.
Prosecutors in the investigation -- which now has prompted probes as far afield as Australia -- say the suspects evaded taxes by putting money in foundations in the tiny tax haven of Liechtenstein.
Krueck said that the foundations checked so far had "capital of well over 200 million euros [US$296 million]."
Tax officials and prosecutors began conducting raids after the German intelligence service paid an informant as much as 5 million euros for a CD-ROM believed to contain 1,400 names of suspected tax cheats, about 600 of whom were Germans.
Liechtenstein's LGT Group says it assumes the data were sold by Heinrich Kieber, a Liechtenstein citizen who has been convicted in his home country of stealing personal information from LGT Treuhand, a unit of LGT Group.
In a statement this week, LGT said that as far as it is concerned "the data material illegally disclosed to the German authorities is limited, with almost complete certainty, to the client data stolen from LGT Treuhand in 2002."
The German Finance Ministry has said the acquisition of the disc was legal and has given no information on the informant.
In Ireland, Denis Harkin, a spokesman for that country's revenue commissioners, said they were aware of the list "and we will be in contact with German authorities to see if there are any Irish residents on the list."
Swedish tax agency chief Mats Sjostrand said Sweden and eight other countries were working with Germany to reveal tax cheats in Liechtenstein.
They include Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand, Sjostrand said in an article published on Tuesday in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
"For Sweden it's about 100 Swedes with bank assets in this so-called tax paradise," he said.
Spain's Tax Agency, part of the Finance Ministry, confirmed it was analyzing information on Spanish citizens who had accounts in Liechtenstein as part of the probe that began in Germany.
Liechtenstein officials have defended the practice of allowing foreigners to open trusts there anonymously.
LGT, owned by Liechtenstein's ruling family, has denied any wrongdoing.
French tax authorities were also looking into information on possible tax dodgers with bank accounts in Liechtenstein, the Budget Ministry said on Tuesday, while Australian and New Zealand authorities yesterday mounted raids on residents suspected of dodging tax through Liechtenstein.
The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the world's leading anti-corruption watchdog, is spearheading the effort to force tax havens to be more transparent.
The US has told the OECD that tax evasion costs it up to US$100 billion a year, while Sweden has said it costs them US$7.5 billion.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS