Germany
several hundred million euros in additional tax payments. Meanwhile, the scandal led to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Germany and Liechtenstein, which accused the German authorities of buying stolen bank data and misusing their political power to extort a small country.50 The German government claimed that it put pressure only on criminal Germans. Opposition parliamentarians in Liechtenstein argued that that country should revise its tax haven policy.51
obtain information on the high-interest earnings of US citizens in Switzerland and have received lump tax payments. Germany and the European Union should push Liechtenstein, Switzerland and other tax havens to reach such an agreement.55
Because certain states have high levels of bank secrecy, money laundering can still prosper despite huge efforts to eliminate it. These tax havens provide the conditions in which corrupt elites, often from developing countries, are able to hide their illegally acquired money.52 Liechtenstein is not the only tax haven.53 Moreover, German banks also offer possibilities for tax evasion, for instance for Swiss citizens.54 While the European Union has failed so far to press Liechtenstein and Switzerland to adopt strict rules, the US authorities have been able to
S. Adamek and K. Otto, Der gekaufte Staat (Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2008). H. Leyendecker, Die große Gier (Berlin: Rowohlt, 2007). OECD Watch Newsletter, ‘Iraq Oil-for-Food Complaint Rejected: German NCP Misses Opportunity for Reinforcing Anti-bribery Message’, OECD Watch Newsletter, April 2008. S. Wolf, ‘Modernization of the German Anticorruption Criminal Law: The Next Steps’, German Law Journal, vol. 8, no. 3 (2007). TI Germany: www.transparency.de.
50 51 52 53 54 55
Sebastian Wolf, Shirley van Buiren and Christian Humborg (TI Germany)
Additional reading
Financial Times Deutschland, 12 February 2008. Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), 23 February 2008. See UNCAC chapter V, articles 51–9. Telepolis (Germany), 3 March 2008. Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen – ZDF.de (Germany), 10 March 2008. Die Tageszeitung (Germany), 20 February 2008.
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