According to a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Heinrich Kieber, a bank computer technician,Kiebler's profile @ Liechtenstein's police website sold a CD with incriminating bank information to the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, English: Federal Intelligence Service), which handed the material over to the tax investigation office in Wuppertal. Kieber was paid €4.2 million by the Federal Ministry of Finance for the data on which the investigation is based. Facing death threats, the informant was in hiding in 2008 and had asked for police protection. At the time, Kieber was wanted by Interpol. Kieber would later state that the secret services of several countries, including Germany, had provided him with a new identity and was protecting him.
