Investigators have gone into the Frankfurt offices as part of a probe by the public prosecutors office into the rogue offshore finance industry.
ADVERTISEMENTInvestigators have gone into the Frankfurt offices of Deutsche Bank as part of a probe by the public prosecutors' office into the rogue offshore finance industry.
A total of 170 officials from the Frankfurt prosecutors office, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the tax investigation office were on the scene at the Deutsche Bank headquarters.
Deutsche Bank shares fell sharply after the news broke. They were down 3.73 by 11:50 am CET but these could keep fluctuating.
A German court ordered the search and targeted at least two employees of the group, according to the prosecutor's office. They were alleged to have helped clients set up off-shore firms to launder money, they said.
It is believed the probe involves the so-called Panama Papers, leaked documents pertaining to over 200,000 offshore dealings.
In 2016, over 900 customers were served by a Deutsche Bank subsidiary registered on the British Virgin Islands, which generated €311 million, said the prosecutor.
They also accused the bank's employees of allegedly neglecting their duties of reporting suspicious activity of clients involved in tax evasion schemes.
The bank confirmed that police were searching its officers and said they were cooperating with the authorities.
In a follow-up tweet, the bank said that they had already provided authorities will "all relevant information" in regards to the Panama Papers. And added they will continue to cooperate with authorities as it is "in their interests to clarify the facts".