Deutsche bank HQ raided by prosecutors in Panama paper's probe

The Frankfurt headquarters of Deutsche Bank have been raided by prosecutors in a money laundering investigation. Germany's public prosecutor alleged that two staff members have helped clients launder money from criminal activities.

A total of 170 police officers, prosecutors and tax inspectors searched six of Deutsche Bank's offices on Thursday, Frankfurt's public prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Numerous written and electronic business documents were seized from the bank, while further investigations are ongoing, it added.

"It is true that the police are currently investigating different locations of our bank in Germany. It's about a case related to the Panama Papers," Deutsche Bank said in statement Thursday, according to a Google translation.

"We will communicate as soon as we have more details. We will cooperate fully with the authorities," the bank said.

Prosecutors are looking into whether Deutsche Bank staff helped clients set up off-shore accounts to "transfer money from criminal activities".

Other banks, including Sweden's Nordea and Germany's Handelsbanken have been fined as a result of information contained in the Panama Papers.

Deutsche Bank shares fell 3% after news of the raid emerged. The company confirmed that police had raided several locations in Germany and that it was co-operating fully with the probe.

Deutsche Bank has been connected with another huge money laundering scandal at Danske Bank.Earlier this month, it confirmed that it was involved in processing payments for the Danish bank in Estonia.

An internal investigation by Danske Bank found that about €200bn (£177bn) of payments were funnelled through its Estonian branch.

The Danish bank said many of those payments were suspicious.

Deutsche Bank said it had terminated its relationship with Danske in 2015, after "identifying suspicious activity".

Deutsche Bank has received sanctions in the past for failing to tackle money laundering.

In September, Germany's financial regulator ordered the bank to take further action to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.

It also appointed an independent auditor to monitor Deutsche Bank's efforts over three years.

In 2017, Deutsche Bank was fined $630m (£504m) by US and UK regulators in connection with a Russian money laundering plan.

Under the scheme, clients illegally moved $10bn out of Russia via shares bought and sold through the bank's Moscow, London and New York offices.

The trouble with authorities comes at a time when Deutsche Bank is having problems with its business. Profits have been tumbling. Compared with the same period last year, pre-tax profits in the third quarter of the year fell 45% to €506m.