(Bloomberg) -- European prosecutors raided a UniCredit SpA unit in Munich in a probe investigating a possible €200 million ($212 million) tax fraud.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Friday that they conducted searches at a bank in Munich in connection with an investigation into a company director suspected of receiving hundreds of millions in bank transfers into his accounts, which originated from a VAT fraud.
“The investigation is related to an historical case involving an individual client and more than one European bank,” a UniCredit spokesman said, adding that the client relationship has ended. “This issue was previously reported by the bank to the authorities and the bank is working with them, providing all necessary information to support this investigation with full transparency.”
The EPPO did not name the lender in its statement but said it is currently evaluating “whether the bank carried out the necessary due diligence measures under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.”
The investigation showed the suspect withdrew sums of up to several hundred thousand euro almost daily, according to the EPPO’s statement. Between 2017 and 2022, one of his bank accounts received around €188 million, nearly all of which was taken out in cash.
The EPPO said it believes that when another bank the suspect had been working with initially became suspicious, he switched to the bank that was searched on Friday. There, the payments were authorized, even though they should have caused suspicion.
UniCredit’s subsidiary HypoVereinsbank had no additional comment beyond that of the parent. A spokesperson for the EPPO declined to comment on ongoing investigations.
--With assistance from Alberto Brambilla and Arno Schütze.
(Adds details from statement starting in fifth paragraph.)
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