Germany steps up tax evader crackdown with Dubai data purchase

Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the country is using ‘all means to uncover tax offenses’.

Germany’s finance minister has ordered the purchase of data on Germans with assets in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, as part of efforts to combat tax evasion, following similar purchases by regional authorities of data from Switzerland in the past decade. The Finance Ministry said the data on the CD was sent to regional financial authorities on Wednesday for them to examine and decide whether to launch proceedings against possible offenders. “We are using all means to uncover tax offenses,” Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in a statement. “With the new set of data, we are illuminating dark corners in which tax offenders so far have holed up.”