Berlin: Germany indicated Monday it would likely buy data from an informant about some 1,500 investors with bank accounts in Switzerland who are suspected of evading German taxes.
Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the importance of fighting against tax evasion. If they turn out to be relevant, "everything should be done to get the data," she said.
The information is widely suspected to have been stolen from a bank, and the possible purchase has raised questions as to whether buying it would constitute supporting data theft.
Finance Ministry spokesman Michael Offer told reporters the ministry had not yet committed to purchasing the data, but that it would make its decision based on a similar case two years ago involving tax evasion data via accounts in Liechtenstein.
In the Liechtenstein case, German authorities paid an informant as much as 5 million euros (Dh26 million) for a CD-ROM containing a list with the names of account holders.
The purchase prompted a wide-ranging investigation that netted more than 160 suspects, the highest profile of which was former Deutsche Post AG Chief Executive Klaus Zumwinkel.
In the current case, Offer said he expected a decision to be made "shortly" on whether to purchase the files.
