Deutsche Bank employees said charged in tax probe

Prosecutors in Frankfurt confirmed Thursday they had filed tax evasion charges against eight current and one former employee of Deutsche Bank over their alleged participation in a value-added tax fraud scheme.

Although German prosecutors did not name the financial institution in question, it was soon confirmed to be Deutsche Bank.

Frankfurt public prosecutors said in a statement that the accused were seven current employees and one former employee of a “major bank”, but did not identify the company involved. All but the retired person have been suspended from their jobs, a spokesman for the prosecutors’ office said. Apart from Libor, Deutsche is also facing allegations of rigging foreign exchange markets, manipulating precious metals prices and breaching US sanctions.

The case is part of the biggest crackdown on emissions- related tax crimes since Europe began its cap-and-trade system in 2005 and saw police raid Deutsche Bank.

At least 14 people have been jailed in three countries so far for their involvement in carbon trading Value-Added Tax fraud.

Deutsche Bank said in a statement that their investigation into the C02 situation is still going on and they’re cooperating with the authorities. It paid £227m to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), $775m to the US Justice Department, $800m to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and $600m to the New York Department of Financial Services.

Investigations into the tax scam started back in 2010, with some individuals outside Deutsche already convicted.