Whistleblower in tax evasion scandal has gone into hiding
Heinrich Kieber sold stolen bank account data from LGT Group, owned by Liechtenstein's royal family, to German agents for about €5m. The computer discs allegedly contained the names of about 1,400 account holders at the bank.
A LAWYER for the informant in the Liechtenstein tax evasion scandal has said his client is the 'good guy' in a case which has triggered inquiries in 14 countries and allegedly involved an attempt to blackmail a prince.
Heinrich Kieber sold stolen bank account data from LGT Group, owned by Liechtenstein's royal family, to German agents for about €5m.
The computer discs allegedly contained the names of about 1,400 account holders at the bank. The scandal has sparked a US Senate committee investigation into tax evasion claims and prompted France to pledge a crackdown on tax havens when it assumes the European Union presidency next month.
Kieber, a 43-year-old computer technician who worked for a consulting firm putting LGT's records into a computer system, is now in hiding in an unspecified country as part of a witness relocation programme organised by US authorities.
Jack Blum, a lawyer at Baker & Hostetler in Washington, says Kieber hired him to collect fees he's eligible for after giving data to US authorities. US law allows whistleblowers to collect 30pc of taxes recovered as a result of the information they provide.
Kieber's whereabouts are a secret because bankers, LGT clients and even drug dealers who had money in Liechtenstein are trying to find him, says Mr Blum.
"My two interests are keeping him alive and making sure everybody in this chain knows he's the good guy in this case," said Mr Blum, a former US Senate investigator and expert in offshore money laundering.
LGT tried to stop Kieber from releasing the data five years ago when it agreed to help him fight a fraud conviction if he returned the discs, according to Wolfgang Mueller, his lawyer at the time. He had sought help from Liechtenstein officials, telling them he had escaped from kidnappers seeking compensation for a fraudulent property deal in Spain. He then threatened to give the data to foreign authorities unless Prince Hans-Adam II provided legal assistance, the principality's top prosecutor said.
Dangerous
"It's always very dangerous to make a deal with a criminal because you are in most cases the loser," says Mr Mueller, who was hired by LGT to represent Kieber in 2003 as part of his agreement to return the discs.
The US Senate's Permanent Committee on Investigations has now issued subpoenas in conjunction with a probe of possible tax evasion by Americans with accounts at Liechtenstein banks. A former UBS AG private banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, is cooperating with a separate Justice Department investigation into whether US citizens evaded taxes with the help of Liechtenstein banks. And on May 13, prosecutors unsealed an indictment alleging that Birkenfeld and Mario Staggl, a Liechtenstein banker, helped Americans set up shell companies to hide assets.
In 1999 Kieber approached Robert Wallner, Liechtenstein's then new chief prosecutor, for help, saying he had been kidnapped and held at an Argentine ranch in connection with an alleged fraudulent purchase of an apartment in Barcelona in 1996.
Arrested
Kieber told him he had been arrested by Spanish authorities in October 1996 but fled when he was released after being questioned by an investigating judge.
Mr Wallner said Kieber had said his captors demanded money as compensation for the apartment fraud, chained his legs to the wall, burned him with cigarettes and slashed him with a knife.
Mr Wallner said Kieber told him he had agreed to pay almost 700,000 Swiss francs (€430,000) to secure his freedom, but then reneged and returned to Liechtenstein.
Instead of intervening on Kieber's behalf, Mr Wallner charged him with fraud in the Spanish case.
In October 2001, a civil court in Liechtenstein ordered Kieber to pay the seller in the Barcelona apartment fraud the equivalent of 615,000 Swiss francs in damages.
Kieber was indicted on charges of aggravated fraud in November 2002. He later sent a letter to Prince Hans-Adam and his son, Alois, warning that he had stolen the names of LGT clients and would reveal them if he wasn't freed.
The prince referred the details to police and a charge of attempted coercion was added to Kieber's case. However a deal was set up in which LGT agreed to pay Kieber's legal costs in return for his cooperation.
Kieber was convicted and given a suspended jail sentence after he told a judge he had returned the computer discs and paid compensation for the apartment. "The main intention in Liechtenstein was to get rid of him," Mr Mueller says.
Now Liechtenstein's authorities want Kieber back.
Police in Vaduz issued an arrest warrant for Kieber on March 11 and demanded his immediate extradition if apprehended abroad. Mr Wallner says he has still to receive a response from Germany following his arrest and subsequent negotiations with officials in that country. (©Bloomberg)
- Alan Katz and Joshua Gallu
