Deutsche Bank HQ raided in Frankfurt over Panama Papers

Deutsche Bank AG’s premises, including its headquarters in Frankfurt were being searched by prosecutors on Thursday in a money laundering probe, prosecutors said in a statement. Two bank employees, aged 50 and 46, were targeted as suspects in the case, according to the statement. Prosecutors said about 170 officials and police were involved in the raids.

According to prosecutors, Deutsche Bank is suspected of aiding some 900 customers in setting up offshore companies in tax havens. It’s alleged some €311 million ($354 million) is believed to have been laundered, citing information from the so-called “Panama Papers.”

“We confirm that the police are currently conducting an investigation at a number of our offices in Germany,” the bank said in a statement. “The investigation relates to the Panama Papers. We will be issuing further details in due course. We are cooperating fully with the authorities”, Deutsche Bank confirmed.

Deutsche Bank shares fell as much as 4.7% on Xetra. They were down 3.2% at €8.32 at 10.40am in Frankfurt.

A probe into the so-called Panama Papers exposed evidence Deutsche Bank helped clients set up off-shore accounts, prosecutors said.

The investigation stems from revelations in the Panama Papers, a collection of documents leaked in 2016 from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm that created shell companies. At the time, Deutsche Bank severed ties with a Cypriot lender partly owned by VTB Group that was identified in the reporting.

The subsequent investigations from the Panama Papers exposed evidence Deutsche Bank helped clients set up off-shore accounts, prosecutors said. The officials said the Thursday raid wasn’t related to its role as a correspondent bank for money laundering at Denmark’s Danske Bank.