VADUZ - Liechtenstein's police said Wednesday they had issued an international arrest warrant for a former bank employee suspected of selling client information to German secret services and sparking a giant tax fraud probe.
The police said in a statement on their website that they are looking for Heinrich Kieber, a 42-year-old Liechtenstein citizen and former employee of LGT Bank.
"Kieber is subject to an international arrest warrant. The Liechtenstein law enforcement agencies demand his immediate extradition," the statement said.
Liechtenstein had already opened criminal investigations against Kieber on suspicion of theft.
Police also provided a photograph of Kieber, showing him with glasses and closely-cropped receding hair.
"According to media reports, Kieber received a new identity and travel documents from the German secret services," the police statement said.
The German government last month admitted paying more than four million euros (six million dollars) to an informer for bank data that led to the biggest tax fraud probe ever in Germany and sparked similar investigations around the globe.
German weekly Focus reported last weekend that Kieber has blamed Germay for not affording him adequate protection after the tax scandal broke.
"You are putting my life in danger," Heinrich Kieber wrote to German intelligence services, according to Focus.
The informant has blamed the intelligence services for not keeping his identity secret and asked them to provide him with a new identity so that he can relocate to South America.
His request has been refused, Focus reported.
Liechtenstein's LGT bank claims that tax inspectors are working from a list with the names of 1,400 of its clients -- 600 of them German -- that was stolen in 2002.
Austria, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the United States have also launched investigations into their citizens' investments in Liechtenstein.
The tiny tax haven -- wedged between Austria and Switzerland -- is now facing intense pressure to reform its lucrative financial sector and help fight fiscal fraud.
wtf/bar/ag
03/12/2008 13:24 GMT