Tax authorities would acquire the controversial data following a payoff on the weekend in France, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported on Sunday, citing Focus magazine. An unnamed informant reportedly insisted on a secret meeting outside Germany for fear of being arrested. The informant has asked for 2.5 million euros ($3.4 million) for a CD said to contain 1,500 names of German nationals who have undeclared cash in Swiss banks to avoid Germany's strict tax rules.

Media reports have estimated the German government could hugely profit from the data, as it may potentially yield 400 million euros in tax revenues. The move, which deals a blow to the Alpine country's cherished bank secrecy, comes less than two years after Germany was involved in a tax scandal over the purchase of stolen data from a Liechtenstein bank.


On Saturday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble attacked Switzerland's banking secrecy laws as outdated and called for their abolishment. "Bank secrecy cannot be an instrument in the 21st century used to evade taxes… There's no future for bank secrecy. It's finished. Its time has run out," Schaueble told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Meanwhile, German authorities in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the southern state of Bavaria have been tempted by a new offer of data with details of alleged tax evaders. In the 2008 tax scandal, the German intelligence service paid as much as 5 million euros to obtain stolen information on account holders at a Liechtenstein bank. The data from account holders with other nationalities, including Americans, French, Italians, and Australians, were also in the 2008 file. Germany reportedly turned over the information to their respective governments.