The German authorities' hunt for tax dodgers, who stashed their money away at Swiss banks, isn't quite over yet, Germany's «Handelsblatt» newspaper reported. The Swiss bankers are currently in frequent contact with the attorney general of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Swiss Bankers Association in 2013 was offered the possibility of a settlement with the authorities of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dieter Bohnert, the German lawyer used as intermediary told «Handelsblatt». Bohnert, who has an office on Zurich's banking mile, said the Swiss financial institutes could have avoided paying for the wrongdoings of German taxpayers and their bankers.
The Swiss Bankers Association confirmed the approach, saying it didn't receive a formal offer and that it was not legally possible to enter into talks.
Attack-Minded Prosecutor
The settlement would have meant that banks invited customers and employees to report themselves to the German authorities, allowing them to be exempted from punishment, with not fines imposed on the banks, while the prosecutors saved on investigative work.
Instead, Norbert Reifferscheidt, the senior public prosecutor of the federal state, went onto the attack, opening cases against numerous Swiss banks. He is using information gathered from the reports for incomplete tax declarations by German citizens, which has passed the 100,000 mark since 2010, «Handelsblatt» said.
Lump-Sum Payments
In case of proven guilt, the banks can clear themselves with the payment of a lump-sum. Earlier this year, Basler Kantonalbank paid 38.6 million euros, as finews.ch reported at the time. Other banks also paid to draw a line under the investigations, «Handelsblatt» said.
Bank Vontobel was another institute coming under investigation by the German authorities, as finews.ch reported in July. North Rhine-Westphalia investigated more than 30 Swiss banks, newspaper «NZZ» said at the time.
