BOCHUM, Germany (Thomson Financial) - German public prosecutors have asked
to see all evidence in the tax evasion scandal involving hundreds of Germans who
sought to avoid paying taxes by shifting funds to Liechtenstein-based accounts,
a spokesman for the Bochum public prosecutors' office said.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier reported there are four discs with information
on individuals' investments in Liechtenstein-based foundations, compared with
earlier reports, which said there is only one such disc.
The newspaper cited unnamed investigators as saying public prosecutors in
Wuppertal, Germany, hold the discs.
German authorities previously admitted paying a whistle-blower, a former
employee of Liechtenstein's LGT Bank, 4-5 mln eur for a disc information on tax
fraud involving secret bank accounts in Liechtenstein.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the discs contain information on several hundred
Austrians, Spaniards and French who held accounts in Liechtenstein. The
information includes transcripts, correspondence and depot statements, it said.
Some of the persons involved stored more than 10 mln eur in Liechtenstein,
it said.
"We know only of German data," the Bochum prosecutors' office spokesman
said.
According to a separate report in Focus magazine, some 150 persons have
turned themselves in to the Bochum public prosecutors' office.
But the magazine cited senior prosecutor Hans-Ulrich Krueck as saying some
state tax offices have so far failed to pass on the names of persons who turned
themselves in.
maria.sheahan@thomson.com
dpa/mas/vs
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