The Swiss Bankers' Association was forced to apologise last night for remarks by its president, Pierre Mirabaud, that the activities of Germany’s BND intelligence agency in its crackdown on tax evasion were reminiscent of the Gestapo. Mr Mirabaud made the analogy during an interview on Swiss television when responding to a question on whether Swiss bank employees could be tempted to disclose customer information, after Germany admitted to paying money for client records stolen from a Liechtenstein bank. "Unfortunately these are methods that remind one a little of those worthy of the Gestapo," he replied. The SBA said Mr Mirabaud, “regretted the impression that could have been conveyed when he talked about Gestapo methods in relation to the German intelligence service. He only meant to express his uneasiness about such methods being used by intelligence services against friendly states." Meanwhile the massive tax investigation in Germany has extended into the role played by German private banks. Three employees of Metzler, a Frankfurt-based private bank, were interviewed. Other German banks, including Hauck & Aufhaeuser, have been raided as part of the search for tax evaders. Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that a few private banks and other financial institutions in Germany helped to administer around 50 anonymous foundations for its rich clients in Liechtenstein. The report was confirmed by Bernd Bieniossek, the leading state prosecutor in the city of Bochum who told German public broadcaster ARD that investigators were indeed looking into the role played by German private banks. The report said German customers of several banks were explicitly advised about the foundations in Liechtenstein, adding that in some cases millions were transferred to accounts in Vaduz using code words.