Prosecutors searched Deutsche Bank's Frankfurt headquarters on Wednesday as part of an investigation into fraudulent tax returns attributed to its subsidiary Postbank between 2008 and 2010. This is the third known search of the headquarters this year.
Deutsche Bank confirmed Wednesday morning that investigators from the public prosecutor's office had raided its main offices in Frankfurt. The bank stated that it is being investigated "as a third party in this case" and that it is fully cooperating with the authorities, without providing further details.
The investigation focuses on stock market transactions carried out around dividend payment dates, a practice that became widespread during the financial crisis that began in 2007. Authorities believe that this mechanism, used by the subsidiary Postbank between 2008 and 2010, constituted tax fraud.
This search is part of a series of legal troubles for the bank. Earlier this year, its premises were raided as part of a money laundering investigation. Recently published documents concerning the American financier Jeffrey Epstein have also revealed that he held up to forty accounts at Deutsche Bank.
On other fronts, German Economy and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche ruled out any new government measures on Wednesday to curb rising fuel prices. The average price of a liter of gasoline is now €2,20, compared to €1,83 before the start of the Iran-Iraq War. A 17-cent tax reduction on gasoline and diesel, introduced in May by the federal government, expired at the end of June. "These funds are not currently available in the federal budget," the minister explained on RTL radio, also rejecting the idea of a price cap proposed by members of the Social Democratic Party.
In Hamburg, experts are due to present this afternoon the results of a DNA analysis aimed at determining whether the carcass of a humpback whale discovered off the coast of Denmark on May 14 corresponds to "Timmy", the cetacean that mobilized Germany for weeks after several strandings on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the spring.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is continuing his African tour. After a stop in Lagos on Tuesday, he will be in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, Germany's second-largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, on Wednesday. There, he is scheduled to meet with his Nigerian counterpart, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and visit the secretariat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Economic cooperation, critical minerals, and security issues are on the agenda for this visit, which will also include several representatives from the German business community.
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