Italian police seized €245m ($336.6m) from UniCredit bank yesterday as part of an investigation into whether employees of the Milan-based bank committed tax fraud by buying complex financial products from UK bank Barclays, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Italy's tax police said in a statement the funds impounded under a court order from Milan judge Luigi Varanelli were equivalent to the profits that UniCredit allegedly garnered in 2007 and 2008. During that period, the bank allegedly used financial "tricks" to make "fraudulent declarations" to tax authorities, the police statement said. Milan prosecutors allege UniCredit used "a series of complex international transactions, availing itself of financial instruments" to evade taxes, police said in a statement.