A battle between Germany and Liechtenstein intensified today as the Alpine tax haven indicated it could charge German spies for buying bank data driving a global hunt for tax evaders.
The principality said a criminal investigation into the theft of banking secrets Berlin bought from an informer will target all 'those involved, regardless of whether they are private citizens or members of an administration'.
Germany said it was rallying fellow European nations to force Liechtenstein to adhere to EU tax rules, a call the principality has defied as authorities around the world scrutinise the accounts of 1,400 of its foreign investors.
Finance Minister Steinbrueck said the issue would be raised at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels next week, and repeated a threat to force all Germans who invest in Liechtenstein to declare their transactions or be taxed at source.
Steinbrueck last week vowed 'to put the screws' on Liechtenstein, while Chancellor Angela Merkel threatened to isolate the tiny country of 35,000 people from the rest of Europe if it did not do more to help international efforts to tackle tax evasion.
Germany two weeks ago launched a probe of rich citizens suspected of stashing billions of in secret trusts in Liechtenstein in order to avoid paying tax.
Berlin has shared information with a host of other nations who have since launched similar investigations. German authorities claim they were cheated of 'hundreds of million of euros' in taxes, while Britain said it was looking for 'at least £100m'.
Liechtenstein - dubbed by the OECD along with Andorra and Monaco as 'un-cooperative tax havens' - has retaliated angrily against the attacks on a banking system that makes up 30% of the economy.
Liechtenstein's Crown Prince Alois has accused Germany of undermining its sovereignty and breaking the law by sending in spies and paying an informer €4m for the stolen banking data.
The principality's LGT bank has said authorities were working from a stolen list with the names of 1,400 of it clients, with the largest number - about 600 - resident in Germany.
The scandal has already claimed the job of Deutsche Post's chief executive, and Handelsblatt alleged in its report today that several prominent figures, including the head of a large southern German food company, were also implicated.
