According to a media report, the Swiss bank Credit Suisse has accepted autocrats, drug dealers and suspected war criminals and human traffickers as customers for years.
According to research by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", this is confirmed by data from the financial institution, which the newspaper says it was leaked from an anonymous source.
The "SZ" evaluated the documents together with the NDR and WDR as well as with several other international media partners, including "Guardian", "Le Monde" and "New York Times".
The bank rejected the allegations when asked by "SZ" and stated, according to the newspaper: "In conducting its business, Credit Suisse complies with the applicable global and local laws and regulations." A large part of the accounts had also been closed long ago.
According to the report, the documents reveal the accounts of more than 30,000 customers from around the world.
According to the data, criminals could have opened accounts or kept accounts "even if the bank could have known long ago that they were dealing with criminals".
Former Siemens manager denies allegations
According to the research, the data includes a former Siemens manager.
At times, he had six accounts with Credit Suisse.
According to the data, assets worth more than 54 million Swiss francs (currently around 51.66 million euros) were entered on one of them as a high in 2006 - a sum that cannot be explained with his Siemens salary.
At the request of the research association, the ex-manager reportedly denied misconduct without explaining where the millions came from.
According to the media, Credit Suisse did not want to answer specific questions about this case or the other questionable accounts, but assured that it was adhering to the "highest standards of conduct".
When asked by telephone by the dpa, a spokeswoman did not want to comment on Sunday.
According to internal bank data, numerous heads of state and government, ministers and heads of intelligence services, as well as oligarchs and cardinals, were clients of Credit Suisse.
"I believe that Swiss banking secrecy is immoral," said the source of the Suisse Secrets data, which is unknown to "SZ" and its research partners, according to the report.
"The pretense of protecting financial privacy is just a fig leaf to cover up the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators with tax evaders." The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" says it has the Credit Suisse data together with organized crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and 46 media partners from all over the world.