Goods in Black Plastic Bags May Widen Liechtenstein Probe

[WSJ_law_blog]

Earlier this year, the tiny principality of Liechtenstein found itself with a very big problem when its nearby neighbor Germany paid more than four million euros for information on Germans who parked money in a Liechtenstein bank — LGT Group — to evade taxes. The investigation has led to tax dodging probes in more than ten countries, including the United States.

Now, German prosecutors have their hands on even more such goods, causing them to widen their pursuit over possible tax evaders. On Friday, judges in a court in the northern German city of Rostock received a list of about 2,000 accounts at another bank, Liechtenstein Landesbank AG. The list came from the attorney of one of the three men on trial for attempting to extort money from the bank to return the data.

“The 600 pages documentary is going to widen the tax case,” senior prosecutor Peter Lueckemann told the LB Tuesday. After verifying the authenticity of the material, which was wrapped in black plastic bags, prosecutors determined it held “very relevant” data, Lueckemann said. Thirty tax inspectors are now investigating the material, estimating the money in the accounts could total 3 billion euros.

The prosecutors are hopeful the new data will prove to be as useful as that for the LGT Group, which resulted in the country’s biggest ever investigations into suspected tax dodging, forcing the resignation of one of Germany’s top managers, Klaus Zumwinkel, head of the mailing giant Deutsche Post.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons