The allegations were enormous: Employees of Deutsche Bank are said to have helped customers to set up so-called off-shore companies in tax havens and to launder money from crime. In the past year, investigators searched the center of Deutsche Bank in a major raid
However, the suspicion has apparently not substantiated: The public prosecutor Frankfurt am Main has set the criminal investigation against two bank employees according to own data for lack of sufficient suspicion. The men and the bank had been accused of tax evasion and money laundering.
It is now clear that the prosecutor "has found no criminally relevant misconduct of employees of Deutsche Bank," said company spokesman Jörg Eigendorf. This was a procedure has been set, "which has burdened us a lot last year."
Fine for violations of money laundering law
Nevertheless, the bank must pay a fine of 15 million euros - in a separate procedure. According to the prosecution, this will result in violations of the Money Laundering Act, which had occurred at the then subsidiary Regula. The two bank employees who had been investigated had also been employed there.
The bank had failed to submit suspicious transaction reports for money laundering in due time, the prosecution said. In addition, at management level, the duty to supervise had been violated and the bank had been insufficiently staffed in the fight against money laundering in the years 2015 to 2018 in question.
Investigations against domestic customers continue
In November 2018, a total of 170 officers from the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office searched the headquarters of Deutsche Bank, and other buildings in the Frankfurt area were also investigated. This was due to investigations into suspected money laundering in connection with the so-called Panama Papers.
At the beginning of 2016, an international network of various media published the "Panama Papers". These included details of financial flows into and out of the tax haven in Central America and the names of numerous business people, politicians and celebrities. There are thousands of mailbox companies in Panama, some of which handle illegal business.
Investigations in the case Regula against domestic customers of the Deutsche Bank on suspicion of tax evasion continue according to the prosecutor. Deutsche Bank had sold the subsidiary in 2018.
