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German Tax Case Reads Like Spy Thriller

Informant's tale rife with code names and kidnappings

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 26, 2008 5:34 PM CST
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(Newser) – Code names, kidnappings, secrets sold to international intelligence agencies: these staples of a thriller movie come from the real life of Heinrich Kieber, the whistleblower who for $7.4 million sold German authorities the information that exposed a huge tax-evasion ring. Kieber has been given a new identity and is living in hiding, but an exposé by Der Spiegel has uncovered past convictions, international adventures, and one very worried mother.

On the run from Spanish police over a bogus real estate deal, he fled to Argentina, where he was kidnapped for 10 days. Eventually he got a job at a bank in Liechtenstein digitizing papers that detailed an international tax scam. Kieber stole the data and sold it to the Germans after the British dragged their feet; American authorities are reported to have bought information, too. Now Kieber has a new name—and little contact with his Spanish mother, Maria, who's merely hoping for a phone call.

Deutsche Post CEO Klaus Zumwinkel, left, and attorney Margrit Lichtinghagen leave Zumwinkel's home in Cologne, western Germany, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008.The chief prosecutor in Munich Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld said Monday Feb. 18, 2008 that tax investigators and prosecutors conducted a series of raids in and around Munich, part of a...
Deutsche Post CEO Klaus Zumwinkel, left, and attorney Margrit Lichtinghagen leave Zumwinkel's home in Cologne, western Germany, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008.The chief prosecutor in Munich Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld...   (Associated Press)
Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein speaks during a press conference in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made clear Monday that she will press Liechtenstein for greater transparency amid a tax evasion scandal that centers on the principality, arguing that the tiny country's reputation is at...
Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein speaks during a press conference in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made clear Monday that she will press Liechtenstein...   (Associated Press)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a news conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, focusing on German and foreign policy. (AP Photo/Franka Bruns)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a news conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, focusing on German and foreign policy. (AP Photo/Franka Bruns)   (Associated Press)
The whistleblower who unveiled a massive tax fraud ring has a shadowy past, Der Spiegel reports.
The whistleblower who unveiled a massive tax fraud ring has a shadowy past, Der Spiegel reports.   ((c) tunguska)
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Investigation has now spread to 10 countries, including the US
Bloomberg

And has he gone into hiding in Australia?
Forbes

Money • World

 
Germany • corruption • whistleblowers • tax fraud • Liechtenstein • German tax scandal • Heinrich Kieber

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