Facts
The appellant [X.] requested the annulment of the decision of the Basel-Stadt Criminal Court, Appeals Chamber, of 23 March 2005, which had dismissed his appeal against the final ruling of the First Public Prosecutor of 11 September 2003. The final ruling had granted the request for legal assistance from the Public Prosecutor's Office in Ravensburg (Germany) and ordered the release of account documents and internal records of Bank [Z.] in Basel regarding the anonymized customer relationship No. 1 and the corresponding CHF and EUR capital accounts.
The appellant argued that the provision of legal assistance was inadmissible because the criminal investigation into money laundering had already been discontinued, there was no justified initial suspicion of money laundering, and the request for legal assistance served purely fiscal purposes.
During the proceedings before the Federal Court, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Ravensburg withdrew its request for legal assistance, as the suspicion of money laundering was no longer sufficiently justified.
Considerations
The Federal Court ruled that the legal assistance proceedings and thus also the administrative court appeal had become moot, as the Public Prosecutor's Office in Ravensburg had withdrawn its request for legal assistance. The administrative court appeal was dismissed due to mootness.
In formal terms, the appellant complained of a violation of the right to be heard, as the statement of the Basel-Stadt Public Prosecutor's Office had not been served on him. The Federal Court found that this complaint would have been justified, but had been cured in the federal court proceedings.
In material terms, the appellant argued that the provision of legal assistance was inadmissible because the criminal investigation into money laundering had already been discontinued, there was no justified initial…