Although the FT seemed to cast some doubt that Henirich Kieber - codenamed Henry - was indeed the informant behind Germany's recent series of tax evasion busts, the consensus seems to be that Heinrich is in fact, the man. Now, how a convicted real estate fraudster (in Spain) ended up working for super-secret Liechtenstein bank, LGT, I'll never understand. Isn't that what Interpol is for?

But I digress...

The German secret service reportedly spent millions of Euros to purchase four DVDs worth of LGT banking records from Kieber. The files revealed all manner of funds scurried away in Liechtenstein's secretive banks not just by 600 German citizens, but also 800 more from Great Britain, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the U.S. and Australia.

Many of these countries have begun their own investigations. Although use of the Kieber list has proved to be highly controversial with some countries (Denmark, for example) eschewing its use in their probes, other nations (US, UK - I am looking at you) have piled on to pay their own fees to access the stolen data.

Meanwhile, Liechtenstein is royally pissed, Germans are overtaxed and wealthy types in virtually every major Western democracy are loosening their sweaty collars. But Heinrich Kieber? Well, we have it on good authority that he's living somewhere comfortably, weathily even, and with a new name. I'm thinking someplace sunny... Australia, perhaps?

And if you're looking for more meat on the story but have so far skipped over all the links above, at least make a point of checking out this Speigel article on Heinrich Kieber. It is without question the best and most exhaustive account you'll find anywhere.

--MDT

Labels: Germany, Heinrich Kieber, informer, tax evasion, tax havens