Germany to buy stolen Swiss bank account data

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a newspaper interview that Germany will buy stolen information on Swiss bank accounts, backed by a poll showing majority support among voters if it helps tackle tax evasion.

Schaeuble said that the Swiss case is legally similar to a tax probe begun two years ago, when German authorities bought client data in Liechtenstein and used the information to pursue tax cheats, the southern German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine citing him as saying in an interview.

“For this reason we could hardly decide otherwise,” Schaeuble was cited as saying today. The decision has already been taken “in principle.” A Finance Ministry spokeswoman wasn’t immediately able to confirm his comments.

A majority of Germans, 57 percent, said they support using information on tax violations even if it was illegally obtained, a Forsa poll of 1,000 people for Stern magazine showed. Forty- three percent said they oppose such a move, the poll showed.

A decision to buy the information risks further souring ties between Germany and Switzerland already damaged last year in a spat over tax evasion. Swiss Finance Ministry spokesman Roland Meier declined to comment on Schaeuble’s remarks. Meier referred to Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz’s statement yesterday that the authorities in Switzerland will offer no legal help on tax matters that involve stolen information.

Information on secret Swiss accounts held by German nationals could yield 200 million euros ($278 million) in lost tax revenue to the German government, Handelsblatt reported yesterday. Tax authorities were offered a CD that contained 1,500 names in exchange for 2.5 million euros.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that German tax authorities should pursue the information “if it’s relevant.” Swiss banks, already reeling from attacks on bank secrecy by the U.S., France and Germany, said Merkel’s government shouldn’t pay for stolen data.