| Swiss bankers apologise after Gestapo remark |
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| Friday, 22 February 2008 | |
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The Swiss Bankers Association has issued an apology after its president compared an investigation into tax evasion by the German authorities with the Gestapo.
German police, backed by the government, tax authorities and intelligence services, has raided hundreds of offices, homes and other buildings this week as part of a clampdown on perceived tax evasion by wealthy Germans. The head of Deutsche Post, Klaus Zumwinkel, has already resigned over alleged tax evasion, with the authorities warning that many others may follow in the coming weeks. The Swiss Bankers Association’s chairman Pierre Mirabaud said in interview for a French-speaking Swiss television station on Wednesday night that the behaviour of the German BND intelligence agency reminded him of the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo. A spokesman for the association said on Thursday evening that Mirabaud, “regretted the impression that could have been conveyed when he talked about Gestapo methods in relation to the German intelligence service”. “He only meant to express his uneasiness about such methods being used by intelligence services against friendly states,” the banking association said in its statement. Earlier this week the acting head of state for tax haven Liechtenstein, Crown Prince Alois, used a press conference to criticise the German tax authorities for paying €4.2 million (£3.2 million) to an informant in return for information on 700 German bank account holders at LGT Treuhand, a subsidiary run by Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein in the tiny Alpine principality. The German authorities denied that the whistleblower was a disgruntled former LGT employee who was previously given a suspended sentence for blackmailing the bank with data stolen in 2002. They said that the investigation is based on more recent information, including confidential communications between the bank's executives to which the informant would not have had access. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax authority, was in possession of details of secret accounts held by American citizens at LGT Bank and plans to investigate the matter. Related articles
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