Deutsche Employees Said To Seek Jail Release

The four Deutsche Bank employees in jail while being investigated for obstruction of justice and money laundering allegations have asked a German court to release them, two people familiar with the situation said.

Bloomberg reports that the employees include the head of litigation at the bank and another member of the legal department who are being held over instructions given to information technology staff following a 2010 probe into tax issues, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak about the matter.

Prosecutors and police last week raided Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters, arresting five employees, in a tax probe involving the sale of carbon-emission certificates. Prosecutors are looking at co-Chief Executive Officer Juergen Fitschen and Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause, who signed tax returns related to value-added tax on the certificates.

One of the five arrested was released a day later for health reasons while the other four were ordered to stay in jail while the probe continues.

In the meantime, the news organisation also reports that Fitschen said banks that fail to keep the trust of their clients will disappear.

'We’re criticized and rightly so', Fitschen, 64, said Monday in a speech in the western German city of Essen. 'In the long term, it’s the clients that decide if a bank survives'.

Global regulators are slapping banks with fines for past infractions that range from lying about their borrowing costs to giving terrorists and drug cartels access to the U.S. financial system.

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