Financial Transparency Coalition

Bloomberg--The German government may be about to step up its pursuit of tax evaders amid reports that a new CD containing stolen bank data has been offered for sale to state authorities.

In January 2010 the German government, in association with the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised a meeting of its International Tax Compact to consider the relationship between tax and development. Abusive tax practices featured high on the agenda. Details of the meeting, including the final communiqué and the papers submitted by participants, who included Jo Marie Griesgraber from our partners, New Rules for Global Finance, and our Director, John Christensen, are available here.

Bloomberg -- Deutsche Bank AG, Commerzbank AG and Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Cie. defended international activities after Die Zeit reported German lenders are “deeply involved” in business with tax havens.

The Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II, has enraged German Jews (and rightfully so) by reiterating the misnomer that banking secrecy was created to protect the Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust. However that's only half of his problem; unlike most other disseminators of this untruth, he then pointed his finger back at Germany (who is currently pursuing tax-evaders into Liechtenstein) and outrageously suggested that they should consider their own past. From the AP:

The prince took aim particularly at Germany, which has been pressuring Liechtenstein to clamp down on confidential banking...