ANKARA

France has launched a search at the headquarters of five banks in the capital Paris on suspicion of tax evasion, according to local media reports.

The French judicial institution Parquet National Financier (PNF) is searching Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Exane, Natixis, and HSBC banks

The PNF raided the headquarters of these banks in the La Defense region on the grounds that they laundered money and evaded taxes at a high rate.

The search was carried out as part of the preliminary investigations opened in December 2021.

Under the investigations, files were found related to the money laundering and high tax evasion of these banks in connection with the "Cum-Ex" -- a tax avoidance scandal aimed at evading dividend tax for foreign shareholders.

The prosecutor's office launched a preliminary investigation in 2021, after the Le Monde newspaper reported in 2018 that banks caused losses worth billions of dollars to France every year in this way.

Similar investigations have been opened in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands.

Cum-Ex is estimated to have cost €140 billion ($151.6 billion) in 20 years on a European scale.

* Writing by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul.