German police and investigators raided Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt offices on 29 November in pursuit of their enquiries into money laundering at Germany’s flagship lender.

Two bank officials are suspected of helping clients set up offshore businesses to launder illicitly obtained money.

Bank raid

Some 170 police officers, prosecutors and tax inspectors searched six of the bank’s offices and reportedly seized numerous written and electronic business documents.

“We confirm that police are currently investigating our bank at various locations in Germany. The investigation concerns the Panama Papers,” according to a Deutsche Bank statement.

The Panama Papers affair involved the leak in 2016 of millions of documents to the media by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Previous fines

In January 2017, Deutsche Bank paid a US$204 million fine to British regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, for inadequate anti-money laundering controls.

The bank had already paid US$425 million to a banking regulator in New York over a scheme that transferred US$10 billion out of Russia.