The China Mail - Deutsche Bank offices searched in money laundering probe

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, the probe is connected to suspected offences in the bank's dealings with companies linked to Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich.

Prosecutors confirmed the raids at the premises of Germany's biggest bank but did not say who was being targeted.

The Frankfurt prosecutors' office said it was carrying out an "investigation into unknown responsible parties and employees of Deutsche Bank on suspicion of money laundering... and related additional allegations under the Anti-Money Laundering Act".

"In the past, Deutsche Bank maintained business relationships with foreign companies that... are themselves suspected of having been used for the purpose of money laundering," a spokesman for the office said in a statement to AFP.

It said the investigation was being carried out by a specialist economic crime unit along with the federal police.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank confirmed the searches, and the bank said it was "cooperating fully with prosecutors" but refused to comment further.

According to financial sources, the probe relates to alleged offences committed between 2013 and 2018.

The raids come on the eve of the publication of the bank's results for the fourth quarter of 2025.

- Legal scrutiny -

Abramovich has been sanctioned by the EU following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Deutsche Bank was being investigated on suspicion of failing to report possible money laundering in a timely manner.

The daily reported that the investigation involves both payments that Deutsche Bank received via a Russian correspondent account and the bank's previous dealings with Abramovich's own companies.

According to news site Der Spiegel the search in Frankfurt involved around 30 plainclothes investigators.

Deutsche Bank has faced scrutiny on several occasions in recent years over suspicious transactions.

In 2022 its offices were raided over "suspicious activity reports filed by the bank", again in relation to money laundering.

Media reports at the time said that the investigation centred on a transaction involving Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of Syria's then leader Bashar al-Assad.

The Frankfurt-based group also came under scrutiny for its role as a correspondence bank that handled foreign transactions for Danske Bank's Estonian branch, at the centre of a 200-billion-euro ($212-billion) money-laundering affair between 2007 and 2015.

Deutsche Bank subsequently agreed to pay a fine of 13.5 million euros for failing to report suspicious activity quickly enough, after an investigation by Frankfurt prosecutors.

V.Fan--ThChM