Finnish names may surface in German tax evasion scandal
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According to a Finnish expert, it is possible that the tax evasion scandal currently washing over Germany could throw up some Finnish names.
This was the opinion voiced by the Ministry of Finance's "grey economy" specialist Markku Hirvonen, speaking to the Finnish News Agency, STT.
Helsingin Sanomat contacted Hirvonen by phone on Thursday evening.
"It is only an educated guess, but it is based on the fact that Finns have on previous occasions used Liechtenstein as a place to stash money", Hirvonen commented on his earlier statement. He believes that those involved have been "well-known Finnish white-collar criminals".
Money salted away in Liechtenstein can be accessed by the authorities only in cases where police are investigating serious crimes such as drug trafficking, says Hirvonen.
In cases such as this, the Liechtenstein authorities help their foreign colleagues in spite of the diminutive country's strict rules on banking confidentiality.
On the other hand, the present German scandal is related to tax evasion, which is not regarded as a crime under Liechtenstein law, if the offence takes place outside of the borders of Liechtenstein itself.
Ahti Leoska heads the audit unit at the Finnish Tax Administration. Leoska told STT that Finnish officials intend to get in touch with their German colleagues in order to see if any Finnish tax evaders can be unmasked in the ongoing German examination of a list that is believed to contain the names of hundreds of Germans who have shifted billions of euros to unlisted bank accounts in Liechtenstein.
For more than a week now, German tax officials have been combing through records in what is seen as the country's largest-ever probe of tax fraud.
Several hundred wealthy Germans - including the former CEO of Deutsche Post Klaus Zumwinkel - are suspected of having moved funds offshore in order to escape paying taxes. Zumwinkel resigned from his position last week amid growing government pressure.
None of this would have come out but for the actions of a disgruntled former employee of the Liechtenstein-based wealth management firm LGT Group, who recently sold - for a sum in the region of EUR 4 million - a CD allegedly containing details of accounts and account-holders.
The buyer was Germany's foreign intelligence agency Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), and the client data are believed to have been purloined from the company in 2002.
The incident brought a rebuke to Liechtenstein from German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the country's aiding and abetting of tax criminals, but the latest developments have indicated a considerably greater and more pro-active involvement by German banks themselves.
Finnish officials would not be able to act directly on information about Finnish tax cheats even if they were to get their hands on the information in the CD, as Ahti Leoska pointed out that stolen information cannot as such be used in evidence.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 22.2.2008 - TODAY |
 Finnish names may surface in German tax evasion scandal |
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