Germany’s biggest bank hired detectives to spy on staff

Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, hired detectives to spy on its employees including a member of its supervisory board, managers and a shareholder, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, hired detectives to spy on its employees including a member of its supervisory board, managers and a shareholder, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

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The bank launched an internal inquiry at the end of May into potential breaches of data privacy law in connection with the affair, Spiegel said in its latest edition to be published tomorrow.

Chief executive Josef Ackermann promised a “zero tolerance” approach over the affair at an annual general meeting of the bank.

Detectives “kept an eye on the movements of these people, and made inquiries as to who they were meeting and when”, said Spiegel, which had seen a report by a law firm on the matter.

Victims of the espionage included a representative from union Verdi on the supervisory board, Gerald Herrmann, who was “suspected of having disclosed the company’s third quarter results in 2001” to journalists, Spiegel said.

In 2006, managers were spied on because of their suspected links to media mogul Leo Kirch, who was involved in a legal battle with Deutsche Bank, the magazine reported.

Spiegel also said minority shareholder Michael Bohndorf, a lawyer living in Ibiza, Spain, was spied on.