German police have raided the head offices of finance giant Deutsche Bank as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering linked to the Panama Papers disclosures.
Prosecutors claim the bank - Germany’s biggest lender - set up offshore shell companies for around 900 customers, who used them to “transfer money from criminal activities”. If figures in the Panama Papers are accurate, a total of around €311m (£277m) was laundered.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Deutsche Bank employees suspected of breaching their duty to report money laundering suspicions may be prosecuted. Multiple bankers are said to be under investigation, with attention focused principally on two people who still work at the institution, reports Bloomberg.
“As far as we are concerned, we have already provided the authorities with all of the relevant information regarding the Panama Papers,” Deutsche Bank spokesperson Joerg Eigendorf told reporters in Frankfurt following the raid.
The Panama Papers scandal first erupted in 2016, with the leak of more than 11.5 million files from the database of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents contained information on the offshore accounts of 214,488 companies and 14,153 clients, and spanned from 1977 until the end of 2015.
As a result of the leak, several banks including Swedish lenders Nordea and Handelsbanken have already been fined by financial regulators for violating money laundering rules.
Markus Meinzer, financial director of the UK-based Tax Justice Network, told German news broadcaster Deutsche Welle that he was surprised German authorities has been so slow to investigate the Panama Papers revelations.
“It has been two years that they’ve been analysing these files,” Meinzer said. “We have seen in other situations that German prosecutors took a very long to take action.”
The raid “adds to a panoply of headaches” - commercial, regulatory and legal - facing the banking powerhouse, with “repeated failures in keeping misconduct in check” pushing its shares to record lows, adds Bloomberg.
-
Confessions of a Brain Surgeon: an 'exceptional' documentaryThe Week Recommends Retired neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reflects on his pioneering work with exquisitely 'raw honesty'
-
A new subtype of diabetes was found and it may require different treatmentUnder the radar It is prevalent in Black Africans and Americans
-
Sudoku medium: August 20, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weaponsThe Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarrayIn the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
