According to a media report by the “Panama Papers” whistleblowers, the Federal Criminal Police Office is to be sued. The authorities have promised him a financial contribution to additional tax demands and now owe him millions.
In April 2016, the so-called Panama Papers revealed an international network of tax evasion and corruption. An unknown source was behind the leak. And now – seven years after the largest data leak published to date – it is seeking legal action. The accused: the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The accusation: The authority owes the whistleblower a sum of 14.5 million euros.
The background to the allegations is a letter that the “Welt am Sonntag” published. It is dated June 23, 2017 and bears the signature of the then BKA Vice President BKA Peter Henzler.
According to the report, the authority promised the whistleblower a ten percent share of the proceeds from fines and additional tax claims that Germany would receive as a result of the “Panama Papers”. The deal should take effect from a sum of 50 million euros in subsequent tax revenue.
However, it would have to be clearly proven that the income goes back to investigations into the “Panama Papers” and thus to the data records transmitted by the unknown source. Beginning in 2018, the whistleblower should receive an annual listing of the “legally confiscated funds”.
BKA confirms the authenticity of the letter
The BKA confirmed the authenticity of the document to “Welt am Sonntag”, but did not give any further details, citing the confidentiality guaranteed in the letter.
It is known that the BKA, with the financial participation of the state of Hesse, bought the leaked data from the “Panama Papers” in July 2017 – for five million euros. A special unit set up by the authority then dealt with the cases of tax fraud in the Federal Republic that were uncovered as a result.
Worldwide, the “Panama Papers” raised more than one billion euros in additional tax claims, in Germany it was more than 160 million euros. But the whistleblower never claims to have received a commission, as the newspaper report goes on to say. Accordingly, when asked, the BKA always referred to the clause that the income must be directly attributable to the data from the “Panama Papers” – and the total from these cases has not yet reached the agreed limit of 50 million euros.
First court dismissed anonymous lawsuit
Now the whistleblower apparently wants to legally fight his financial involvement, but in the USA. According to the “Welt am Sonntag” he filed a lawsuit in a district court in Washington in June. However, this was rejected because the plaintiff was not willing to reveal his identity. Now the whistleblower is trying a court in New York. The BKA, on the other hand, informed the newspaper that it was not aware of any lawsuits against its own authority.
According to a criminal law expert quoted in the newspaper, it is common in the USA for whistleblowers to share in penalties that could be collected as a result of information received.
In Germany, however, the legal situation is different: the additional tax payments collected by the authorities as part of the “Panama Papers” investigation have become the property of the state and are therefore not allowed to be paid out to private individuals. The expert also doubted the letter signed by Henzler as a basis for a lawsuit: Because a “mere promise of performance without the will to ever fulfill it” has no criminal consequences for the former BKA deputy.