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New CD on German tax dodgers surfaces

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New CD on German tax dodgers surfaces
Photo: DPA

Another CD packed with evidence of German tax evasion on money totalling €500 million has been spirited out of a bank in Liechtenstein and is being offered to investigators, media reported Thursday.

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The data was offered to tax authorities in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein months ago. The CD contains details of hundreds of Germans suspected of hiding taxable money in accounts at the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB), daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The data saved on the CD concerns money totalling €500 million, the paper reported.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank is the second-largest bank in the tiny – and very wealthy – alpine principality of Liechtenstein, whose only major industry is banking.

Like neighbouring Switzerland from which another notorious CD was bought by German authorities earlier this year, Liechtenstein has long been regarded as a tax haven.

The data is believed to be recent, and the state government in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, is believed to be interested in buying it after conducting spot-tests to see if it is genuine. It has already spoken to the federal Finance Ministry about the matter, but a final decision is yet to be made.

If a deal goes ahead, it would be the second time Germany has bought stolen information from Liechtenstein. In 2008, the German secret service handed over €5 million for the names of hundreds of German business executives, sports stars and entertainers allegedly hiding some €4 billion.

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