German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she planned to discuss banking regulation with the prime minister of Liechtenstein at a meeting in Berlin this week following an unprecedented fraud scandal focused on the tiny principality.
Merkel noted that some progress on transparency had been made in Liechtenstein, a small country between Switzerland and Austria that has a reputation as a tax haven.
"In Liechtenstein, progress has been made" but "of course, we are going to talk about questions that still have to be settled, including details on regulation of banks and foundations," she said. "This is an appropriate occasion to discuss a current problem."
Liechtenstein Prime Minister Otmar Hasler is to visit Berlin on Wednesday. One top German company chief has resigned and hundreds of wealthy Germans are now being investigated after German authorities obtained a list of clients of a bank in Liechtenstein that has built its reputation on banking secrecy.
The list of clients was stolen by an employee of the bank in 2002. On Monday, German investigators searched the homes and offices of suspects whose names appeared on a list of 700 people implicated in the country's biggest ever tax scandal, television news reported.
Tressed, adding that "measures must be taken." Merkel also called for greater clarity on tax matters with other European countries. "We will not obtain tax harmonisation, but we do expect something ... we are trying to attain a comparable level of transparency" among European states, Merkel acknowledged at a press conference with foreign media.
She noted that such transparency has already been agreed upon within the 27-member European Union, adding that Liechtenstein, which is not an EU member, "is a country about which we still have questions."