Swiss ‘tax spy’ goes on trial in Germany

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: A Swiss man accused of spying on German officials who were hunting tax cheats went on trial in Frankfurt yesterday, in a convoluted case that has strained ties between Bern and Berlin. Daniel M, 54, was arrested in Frankfurt in April on espionage charges after he compiled information on officials tasked by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia with ferreting out stashes of wealth hidden at Swiss banks. Switzerland had been seeking the identities of three German tax officers, hoping to build a case against them for illegally obtaining banking data-which are protected under the country’s strict secrecy laws.

Swiss banks had come under intense pressure in recent years as several German states started buying CDs or USB memory sticks allegedly containing data on German taxpayers who had parked their fortunes across the border. Fearing prosecution, many of Germany’s rich and famous subsequently came forward to declare their hidden wealth, boosting the tax coffers of Europe’s biggest economy by billions of euros. German investigators say Daniel M was in the employ of Bern’s spymasters by July 2011 at the latest. Along with an associate working for a security firm in Frankfurt, he allegedly collected birthdates, telephone numbers and private addresses of German tax officials.

Prosecutors also believe he placed a mole, whose identity remains unknown, in the tax office. Hours after the trial began, the case appeared to be heading for a quick settlement. The defendant’s lawyer Robert Kain told the court his client was ready to confess and would issue a written statement next Thursday, the next hearing date. Denying that a mole was placed in the tax office, Kain said that “there is no source”. If the confession proves to be “credible and comprehensible”, judge Josef Bill said, the case could close with M receiving a suspended sentence and a fine.

Big risks, at what gain?

The spying claims sparked outrage in Germany, with Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel rebuking Switzerland over the scandal and summoning Bern’s envoy for clarification.

The case was especially embarrassing for Switzerland, which in 2015 had signed a deal with the European Union to exchange bank data starting in 2018 as part of an international pledge to clamp down on tax cheats. Amid the uproar, German and Swiss media reported that the accused’s operation had unraveled by chance, possibly because he had walked into a trap set by Werner Mauss, a former top spy dubbed Germany’s James Bond.

Daniel M, a former policeman and a high-ranking security officer at Swiss banking giant UBS, reportedly passed on a CD containing banking data to a German contact-who had in fact been working for Mauss. The data turned out to be erroneous, but Mauss reported the exchange to UBS, which in turn passed it on to Swiss authorities who arrested M in February 2015 for breaching banking secrecy. During the investigation, M. apparently told Swiss investigators that he had been working for Bern to spy on German authorities.

But a copy of a summary of the interrogation ended up in the hands of German authorities through Mauss, leading eventually to M’s arrest in Frankfurt. German prosecutors say he was paid 3,000 euros ($3,500) a month over half a year by his Swiss handlers. He also received 13,000 euros for the personal details of tax officials, of which he gave 10,000 euros to his associate. Separately, for the mission to place a mole in the tax office, M was promised 90,000 euros. He received 60,000 euros of the sum but passed on most of it to unknown individuals, according to German prosecutors. He risks up to five years in jail.— AFP PRAGUE: A billionaire populist known as the “Czech Trump” wooed euroskeptic voters yesterday with promises of a “fair” deal from Europe if he wins this week’s general election as expected. Andrej Babis, 63, who heads the ANO (Yes) movement, is the clear favorite for prime minister in the October 20 and 21 ballot where traditional pro-EU parties are forecast to take a thrashing. Analysts say that already-strong euroskeptism in the EU member country could further intensify, echoing trends in neighboring countries in the bloc. Voters yesterday received a letter in the mail from Babis vowing that “the Czech Republic will not adopt the euro” should he take office. But he insisted he is “all for a single Europe which plays fair and where nobody is a second-class member”.

After Britain’s vote to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum, some have even started to talk about the prospect of “Czexit”. Two-thirds of Czechs said the EU’s decisions were not in the interest of their country in an April survey by the independent CVVM pollsters. “Some voters, politicians and journalists are inclined to present these elections as a kind of referendum on Babis, but what’s worse and more dangerous is that topics like the migrant crisis and criticism of the EU are gaining more ground,” Charles University analyst Josef Mlejnek said. Babis echoes other eastern EU leadersespecially in Hungary and Poland who also oppose mandatory EU refugee quotas and various rules they see as attempts by Brussels to limit national sovereignty. —AFP

‘Czech Trump’ fans euroskeptism two days before vote