By DPA
Berlin : Deutsche Post chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel Friday offered to resign from his position a day after prosecutors linked him to a million-euro tax scam.
The German government welcomed the decision from the head of the global logistics concern.
In simultaneous dawn raids Thursday, police and prosecutors targeted Zumwinkel’s Cologne home and his office at Deutsche Post headquarters in Bonn.
Zumwinkel was taken away under police escort to the prosecutor’s office in Bochum but later released after posting a large bond as security.
Prosecutors said they were probing tax evasion amounting a million euros ($1.5 million).
They added that others were also under investigation in a probe into funds deposited with foundations in the tax haven of Liechtenstein, a tiny principality between Austria and Switzerland.
A storm of outrage ensued over the allegations, that apparently followed a yearlong probe into Zumwinkel and up to 100 others, many of them reported to be prominent and wealthy German business people.
Although Deutsche Post initially insisted Zumwinkel would stay at his post, which he has occupied since 1990, there were calls for the chief executive, seen as the doyen of German businessmen, to go.