UBS reported that some of its offices in Germany were searched by the authorities in connection with an ongoing tax probe of the Swiss bank’s German clients, according to Reuters.
Prosecutors have searched 10 UBS offices in Germany in connection with an ongoing tax probe, the state prosecutor in Bochum said.
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The searches were targeted at recovering documents that would elucidate possible tax avoidance by UBS customers.
UBS satted the searches dated back to a probe started in 2012, rather than a new investigation.
Investigators have conducted a series of searches of houses and offices based on the information contained in the CDs that was purchased by the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) authorities.
The NRW authorities CD data has held details of 750 foundations and 550 further cases with a volume of 3.5 billion Swiss francs.
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By GlobalDataUBS said: "UBS Deutschland AG is not the target of the exercise. UBS does not tolerate activities aimed at helping clients to avoid their tax obligations."
The number of voluntary declarations related to Switzerland rose to 1,528 during first six months of 2013 in NRW from 347 in the previous year, the state’s finance ministry said.
On 17 April 2013, PBI reported that Germany has reportedly acquired tax secrets data on 1,000s of Swiss bank accounts.
In August 2012, it was alleged that UBS had been helping wealthy Germans dodge taxes by telling them to move funds to Singapore and other money centers.
On 11 August 2011, Switzerland had signed a landmark tax agreement with Germany that was to go a long way to match the demands of the Swiss private banking industry including giving it mutual access to Germany’s financial markets.
