Germany's biggest bank was raided on suspicion of filing money laundering reports too late. The probe reportedly concerns a transaction involving the family of Syrian leader Bashar Assad. Deutsche Bank is facing increasing scrutiny following fresh raids at the bank's offices in the financial hub of Frankfurt. It looks as though Chief Executive Christian Sewing could actually be making an attempt to clean things up at Deutsche Bank, after years of regulatory issues at the bank.
In fact, Deutsche Bank headquarters is reportedly being searched at this moment as part of an ongoing money laundering case that it appears the bank tipped off regulators to. The bank's offices in Frankfurt are being searched by law enforcement authorities “after the lender flagged potential money laundering,” Bloomberg wrote on Friday morning.
Officials from the Frankfurt prosecutors office and Germany's BKA federal police were included in The raid , the report continues. The searches are taking place following the decision by a Frankfurt court, the report says.
In addition to that, representatives of financial regulator BaFin were also involved in the search, Reuters reported. Deutsche Bank said in a statement that the search relates to “reports made by the bank of suspected money laundering” and the bank said it is “cooperation [sic] fully with authorities”. Reuters confirmed that the search was due to a tip from the bank, stating “the search involved suspicious transactions it had itself passed on to authorities”.
“Police officers are present in and around Deutsche Banks Frankfurt headquarters”, Bloomberg confirmed Friday morning. However, one witness told Reuters “there was no sign of authorities outside the bank's headquarters on Friday”.
Deutsche Bank made the following statement:
“This is an investigative measure by the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office in connection with suspicious activity reports filed by the bank. Deutsche Bank is fully cooperating with the authorities.”
Meanwhile, Deutsche has been under the microscope for potential money laundering for years, facing nearly $700 million in fines for trades that authorities said were used to illegally launder money.
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