Swiss 'tax spy' ready to confess in German trial

 A Swiss man accused of spying on German officials who were hunting tax cheats signalled at the opening of his trial in Frankfurt Wednesday that he was ready to confess.

Daniel Moser, 54, was arrested in the German business capital in April on espionage charges after he compiled information on officials tasked by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with ferreting out stashes of wealth hidden at Swiss banks.

Switzerland had been seeking the identities of three German tax officers, hoping to build a case against them for illegally obtaining banking data -- which are protected under the country's strict secrecy laws.

Swiss banks had come under intense pressure in recent years as several German states started buying CDs or USB memory sticks allegedly containing data on German taxpayers who had parked their fortunes across the border.

Fearing prosecution, many of Germany's rich and famous subsequently came forward to declare their hidden wealth, boosting the tax coffers of Europe's biggest economy by billions of euros.

German investigators say Moser was in the employ of Bern's spymasters by July 2011 at the latest.

Along with an associate working for a security firm in Frankfurt, he allegedly collected birthdates, telephone numbers and private addresses of German tax officials.

Prosecutors also believe he placed a mole, whose identity remains unknown, in the tax office.

Hours after the trial began, the case appeared to be heading for a quick settlement.

The defendant's lawyer Robert Kain told the court his client was ready to confess and would issue a written statement next Thursday, the next hearing date.

Denying that a mole was placed in the tax office, Kain said that "there is no source".

If the confession proves to be "credible and comprehensible", judge Josef Bill said, the case could close with Moser receiving a suspended sentence of up to two years and a fine of around 50,000 euros.

- Big risks, at what gain? -

The spying claims sparked outrage in Germany, with Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel rebuking Switzerland over the scandal and summoning Bern's envoy for clarification.

The case was especially embarrassing for Switzerland, which in 2015 had signed a deal with the European Union to exchange bank data starting in 2018 as part of an international pledge to clamp down on tax cheats.

Amid the uproar, German and Swiss media reported that the accused's operation had unravelled by chance, possibly because he had walked into a trap set by Werner Mauss, a former top spy dubbed Germany's James Bond.

Moser, a former policeman and a high-ranking security officer at Swiss banking giant UBS, reportedly passed on a CD containing banking data to a German contact -- who had in fact been working for Mauss.

The data turned out to be erroneous, but Mauss reported the exchange to UBS, which in turn passed it on to Swiss authorities who arrested Moser in February 2015 for breaching banking secrecy.

It remains unclear who Mauss was working for in that case, and what motivated him to target Moser.

During the investigation, Moser apparently told Swiss investigators that he had been working for Bern to spy on German authorities.

But a copy of a summary of the interrogation ended up in the hands of German authorities through Mauss, leading eventually to Moser's arrest in Frankfurt..

German prosecutors say he was paid 3,000 euros ($3,500) a month over half a year by his Swiss handlers.

He also received 13,000 euros for the personal details of tax officials, of which he gave 10,000 euros to his associate.

Separately, for the mission to place a mole in the tax office, Moser was promised 90,000 euros.

He received 60,000 euros of the sum but passed on most of it to unknown individuals, according to German prosecutors.

He risks up to five years in jail.

Source: AFP