Securities Firms News
Thu, 24 May 2001, 10:02am EDT
Clearstream Being Investigated for Tax Evasion, Spiegel Says

By Hannah Warrington

Hamburg, May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Clearstream International, the clearing and settlement company that is 50 percent-owned by Deutsche Boerse AG, is being investigated for tax evasion as well as money laundering, German weekly Spiegel reports in a release of tomorrow's edition.

``It is being established whether tax deception took place as well in connection with salary payments and contributions to pension funds,'' Andre Roelants, acting chief executive of Clearstream, told the magazine.

Spokesmen for Clearstream couldn't be reached for comment.

Clearstream's former chairman, Andre Lussi, has been suspended as Luxembourg authorities investigate allegations that the company concealed illegally gained money by transferring it through a number of different businesses, and manipulated data. The clearing house has said the allegations aren't true.

Internal documents indicate that questionable payments may have gone through companies in the U.K. Channel Island of Jersey, a tax haven, Spiegel reported.

(Spiegel 5-21) (See {SPGL } to view the paper's Web site on the Bloomberg.)