The state
premier in Germany's most populous region, SPD figurehead Hannelore Kraft, has
told a major newspaper her government will continue buying black market data on
German tax dodgers who use Swiss banks.
The state
premier of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hannelore Kraft, told the
mass-circulation Bild newspaper that her government would continue pursuing
suspected tax cheats, despite opposition from the federal government and
individual parliamentarians in the region.
"Purchasing
such data is legal. That has been decided by the highest legal authorities. We
will therefore continue buying such data," Kraft said.
Kraft's
full interview with Bild was set to be published in the Monday edition of the
paper, with excerpts released ahead of time on Sunday.
 |
| Kraft has been fielding many questions of late, not just on tax evasion |
Kraft's
Social Democrats (SPD) govern NRW in coalition with the Greens, two parties
that are in opposition on the federal level. They have purchased several CDs
containing information on suspected tax evaders, usually sold by rogue
employees or former employees of Swiss banks. The issue came to a head in 2010
when authorities raided several German branches of the Credit Suisse bank after
purchasing such data.
Switzerland
views the purchases as a violation of its banking privacy laws.
Bild also
quoted Kraft as saying that the latest data purchase indicated that Swiss banks
were advising their clients on how to ship their money to Asia before a
bilateral tax deal between Germany and Switzerland comes into force. This would
support previous media reports on the subject in Germany.
When
governments collide
Chancellor
Angela Merkel's federal coalition has brokered a tax deal with Switzerland that
is due to come into force at the beginning of 2013. Under the deal, which may
not get through the upper house of parliament due to the opposition's
reservations, Germans parking their assets in Swiss banks would start paying
26.4 percent tax on these holdings plus a smaller, one-off charge on previous
deposits.
"We
are not against a tax deal in principle. We are against this tax deal,"
Kraft told Bild. "It's a fundamental question of equality. If this deal
comes into force, German tax cheats would remain anonymous, pay less than
honest taxpayers and get their unreported income laundered."
There is no
precise data on the amount of money stashed away in Swiss banks by German
residents, but some media reports have estimated the figure at 180 billion
euros, around five percent of Germany's gross domestic product.
Four
politicians from the fledgling pro-transparency Pirate Party on Friday filed a
lawsuit against the state's finance minister, alleging that the purchase of the
CDs violates Germany's data protection laws.
Out of the
chancellor picture?
Kraft also
told the paper that she would not seek the Social Democrat nomination for
chancellor in the 2013 general elections, "because I promised before the
[state] elections that I would remain state premier of NRW."
 |
| Kraft's election success was Norbert Röttgen's demise |
Kraft won
reelection in May, in a vote more characterized by the implosion of Merkel's
Christian Democrats than by the success of the SPD and the Greens. The vote led
to the resignation of regional Christian Democrat leader Norbert Röttgen, who
also lost his spot in Merkel's cabinet as federal environment minister within a
matter of days.
The SPD has
said that it will not announce its 2013 rival to Merkel, who does plan to stand
again, until the beginning of the election year. The responsibility lies with
party leader Sigmar Gabriel.
"Sigmar
Gabriel will make a suggestion at the right moment. I really cannot understand
all this excitement over the 'chancellor question' at this point in time,"
Kraft said.
Gabriel,
Kraft, former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück and the defeated 2009 candidate,
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, are currently considered the front-runners for the
nomination.
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