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Former UK Foreign Exchange officer Alan Taylor has been arrested and detained in Germany on charges of fraud and money laundering.
Taylor was arrested by German authorities and transferred to Berlin on Friday after a month-long manhunt in the UK.
Taylor was charged on Thursday with fraud over the purchase of gold from a Swiss bank and is expected to face charges in Germany, where he is due to be extradited.
The German authorities said they seized a Swiss passport and an additional £1.6m ($1.8m) in cash and property in the investigation.
The Swiss government said the money was being used to support his legal defense and to pay for travel expenses.
A source familiar with the case told the BBC he believed Taylor had used the money to pay his wife and three children’s tuition at a private university in the German city of Darmstadt.
Swiss Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has confirmed he was in contact with Taylor’s wife, and said that he and the Foreign Ministry had been in contact to discuss the case.
In a statement, the German government said it had “proceeded with due consideration of the legal actions and the extradition of Mr Taylor”.
“The German government is determined to prosecute criminals who commit serious financial crimes, such as this case, with a full measure of rigour,” the statement said.
“The German courts will be responsible for this case.”‘
The Swiss are the best bank’Swiss authorities had said Taylor, 56, had received over €5m in foreign exchange in the run-up to the Eurozone crisis in 2015 and 2016.
He was arrested last October in Switzerland as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and money-laundering.
After fleeing the UK in 2015, Taylor told investigators that he had become the sole owner of a company called Global Gold Services, which was responsible for buying and selling gold and silver bullion in the United Kingdom and the European Union.
At the time of his arrest, he had only one account in Switzerland, with his wife, Christine Taylor.
Mr Taylor has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of €50,000.
