Deutsche Bank employees charged over sales tax evasion

Frankfurt prosecutors have charged eight current and former Deutsche Bank employees in connection with €220 million in sales tax evasion following a long-running investigation into Europe's carbon emission certificate market.

Prosecutors did not identify the bank, but people familiar with the case say the accused are mid-ranking employees of Deutsche Bank, which was raided in 2012 as part of the investigation. Seven of the eight accused are still employed by Deutsche. A court must now decide whether to hear the case.

“Our investigation into the CO2 situation is continuing,” Deutsche said. “We are co-operating with authorities.”

Prosecutors saw no reason to open an investigation into members of Deutsche’s management board, people close to the bank said.

The charges are set to cast a further cloud over Germany’s largest bank, which in April paid a record $2.5 billion fine for its involvement in the Libor rate-rigging scandal. Apart from Libor, Deutsche is also facing allegations of rigging foreign exchange markets, manipulating precious metals prices and breaching US sanctions.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015