Switzerland has issued arrest warrants for the three German tax investigators.
A spokeswoman for the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office said prosecutors are investigating allegations of economic espionage and theft of client data from Credit Suisse Group (CS) though the nature of the legal assistance requested from Germany wasn’t specified.
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It is believed that German investigators have used bank-client data, which was bought from several informants, to identify alleged German tax evaders who keep funds beyond the reach of German authorities in Switzerland and that in 2011, Credit Suisse paid EUR150 million to German authorities as a settlement of allegations that bank officials assisted clients in evading German taxes.
A German Finance Ministry spokeswoman said that several German states have declined to ratify the treaty that aims to regulate cooperation between Swiss and German tax investigators, which Swiss and German officials are currently rewording.
Additionally, agreement with Germany is said to be particularly complex due to the large numbers of Germans who use Swiss banks to shelter assets.
The German tax-collectors union said in its statement said: "The German Tax Collectors Union stands in solidarity behind the tax investigators."
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