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TAX

German region to pay for tax dodger data in Switzerland

Tax authorities in a western region in Germany are planning to buy data on German clients suspected of tax evasion in a Swiss bank, a report by the Financial Times Deutschland to be published on Thursday said.

Published: 17 November 2011 10:32 CET

Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia are to buy a CD with data concerning around 1,000 German clients of the private Couts Bank, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

It will be the first time German authorities will buy data on suspected tax cheats since Berlin and Bern signed a deal on double taxation in August that will come into force in 2013 and could net billions of euros for German tax coffers.

The accord aims to close a dispute between the two neighbours that blew up into a major spat in 2010 when German authorities raided branches of Credit Suisse bank in 13 German cities after buying data on suspected tax dodgers.

Switzerland reacted angrily, saying the data — bought for a reported €2.5 million — was stolen in violation of its banking secrecy laws.

According to German media, between €130 and €180 billion in German assets are hidden in Switzerland.

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GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Published: 5 June 2021 12:58 CEST
Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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