German authorities have raided local offices of Deutsche Bank in connection with a probe related to the Panama Papers scandal.
Panama Papers was a data leak of more than 11 million documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca in 2016. The papers revealed offshore accounts and their beneficiaries served by the law firm.
The offices searched include Deutsche Bank’s headquarters at Taunusanlage in Frankfurt. Authorities seized various business documents during the process.
The probe concerns two of the bank’s employees, who allegedly helped clients establish offshore firms in tax havens to aid money laundering. Names of the employees in question were not revealed.
The main suspects are accused of processing €311m in 2016 alone through the bank’s British Virgin Islands unit. The bank’s employees are also accused of neglecting their duties to report money laundering suspicions.
Confirming the probe, the bank said: “As far as we are concerned, we have already provided the authorities with all the relevant information regarding Panama Papers.
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By GlobalData“Of course, we will cooperate closely with the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt, as it is in our interest as well to clarify the facts. In recent years, we have proven that we fully cooperate with the authorities – and we will continue to do so.”
The bank said that it is cooperating with the authorities on the investigation.
For Deutsche Bank, the raids add to its already existing woes of continuous losses and misconduct charges.
In the third quarter of 2018, Deutsche Bank registered a net income of €229m.The figure marked a 65% slump from the previous year.