Klaus Zumwinkel will resign as chief executive of German mail and logistics group Deutsche Post , the company said today as a tax-dodging probe threatened to ensnare more rich Germans.
The 64-year-old, a pillar of Germany's corporate establishment who has led Deutsche Post for 18 years, came under pressure to go after prosecutors said they suspected him of dodging about €1 million in taxes by transferring money to tax haven Liechtenstein.
"In the interest of the company he will resign" on Monday, Deutsche Post said in a brief statement posted on the company's website. "The executive committee respects this decision and proposes to the supervisory board to accept."
A spokesman for Germany's finance ministry, which first revealed Mr Zumwinkel would leave, was asked whether he believed the allegations against Mr Zumwinkel were accurate.
"We have the impression that Mr Zumwinkel thinks that," Torsten Albig said, adding that anyone who thought they could be implicated in the probe should consider turning themselves in.
The spokesman also told a news conference he expected Mr Zumwinkel would quit as chairman of Deutsche Telekom. Deutsche Telekom had no immediate comment.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said his departure from Post was unavoidable, while Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said the probe had caused considerable "moral damage". The state is Post's biggest shareholder with a 31 per cent stake.
Hundreds more rich and prominent Germans faced a visit from police after prosecutors investigating tax evasion got extensive data on offshore bank accounts in Liechtenstein, a paper said.
It was unclear how prosecutors obtained the documents about accounts at LGT, business daily Handelsblatt said, but it quoted one unnamed investigator saying: "We cracked the entire bank."