Deutsche Bank CEO: Staff in probe shouldn’t be prejudged

FRANKFURT: Deutsche Bank chief executive officer (CEO) Christian Sewing said two employees subject to an ongoing investigation into money laundering allegations should not be prejudged until proven guilty.

The interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag comes shortly after a two-day raid at Germany’s largest lender linked to the “Panama Papers” leak of documents about offshore finance.

According to a source, the raid included police searching the offices of all the bank’s board members.

Investigators are looking into the activities of two unidentified Deutsche Bank employees alleged to have helped clients set up offshore firms to launder money, said the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office.

“It’s about two employees that, at the time, helped to work through everything surrounding the issue of the Panama Papers. In my view the presumption of innocence clearly applies until proven otherwise,” Sewing told Bild am Sonntag.

“If we would prejudge our own employees at Deutsche Bank — most notably those that are working through relevant issues — something would be going massively wrong.”