COMMERZBANK-LUXEMBOURG/TAX Prosecutors investigate Commerzbank over Luxembourg clients

Record ID: 565882

  • Title: COMMERZBANK-LUXEMBOURG/TAX Prosecutors investigate Commerzbank over Luxembourg clients
  • Date: 25th February 2015
  • Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 25, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF COMMERZBANK HEADQUARTERS IN FRANKFURT DUESSELDORF, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 25, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA FINANCE MINISTRY NORBERT WALTER-BORJANS, FINANCE MINISTER IN STATE OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) FINANCE MINISTER IN STATE OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, NORBERT WALTER-BORJANS (pron.: BORE-yannss), SAYING: "Based on information we received, there is reason to believe that there was large scale tax evasion as well as organised assistance for tax evasion. We will now see what the data reveals." VARIOUS OF FINANCE MINISTRY'S PAMPHLET "TAX ADVICE FOR ENTREPRENEURS" (SOUNDBITE) (German) FINANCE MINISTER IN STATE OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, NORBERT WALTER-BORJANS (pron.: BORE-yannss), SAYING: "Without prejudging anyone -- and I want to underline that -- we need to see what facts exist. It must be very clear that a financial sector which offers services on how to evade taxes has to count on being fined. This is the case for any private individual so it cannot be that there are companies which evade laws or even break them, thereby causing considerable damage at the expense of honest taxpayers." PAMPHLET WALTER-BORJANS WITH REPORTER
  • Embargoed: 12th March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE3CNGWHEAYN6LV2RDKGYKSWA0
  • Story Text: German prosecutors launched an investigation into Commerzbank and its clients late on Tuesday (February 24) in connection with suspected tax evasion involving accounts in Luxembourg.
    Commerzbank said in an emailed statement that it was fully cooperating with the investigation which it said concerned old cases that date back 10 years or more.
    "We demand absolute transparency that all our customers in Luxembourg have a clarified tax status. Commerzbank rejects relationships with customers whose tax status is not clear on principle," the bank's statement read.
    Prosecutors in Cologne confirmed they were investigating parties whom they suspected of hiding capital gains with Luxembourg banks.
    They declined to comment on the identities of the people and institutions involved, but said more than 130 tax inspectors and 20 police officers had been involved in raids on offices across the country.
    Luxembourg is already in the spotlight over tax following allegations last year that more than 300 companies had secured secret deals to slash their tax bills.
    Norbert Walter-Borjans, finance minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia where Cologne is situated, said the latest raids showed the need for changes to the law so that companies could be called to account as well as employees.
    "Without prejudging anyone -- and I want to underline that -- we need to see what facts exist," Walter-Borjans said in Duesseldorf on Wednesday (February 25).
    "It must be very clear that a financial sector which offers services on how to evade taxes has to count on being fined. This is the case for any private individual so it cannot be that there are companies which evade laws or even break them, thereby causing considerable damage at the expense of honest taxpayers."
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