Cum-Ex scandal: trail in the desert sand | tagesschau.de

Where is the tax money that cum-ex actors stole from the German treasury? documents that WDR and SZ are available point to Dubai, among other places.

The search for the millions leads to Bonn, to the district court, in room 0.11. Tax attorney Hanno Berger, for many the key figure behind the cum-ex deals, has to answer for the allegation of particularly serious tax evasion.

Berger is currently in custody. He is said to have convinced banks and investors on a large scale to get into cum-ex deals. He is said to have unjustly diverted millions from the state treasury into his own pocket with these transactions. On a day in August, for the first time in years, he met the man who was considered by many to be Berger’s foster son: Kai-Uwe S. He testified as a key witness.

Collected around 50 million

The interrogation of S lasted two days. The man pretended to have “let his pants down to his ankles”. He describes in a script-ready way how he, along with Berger and other accomplices, cheated the state out of millions by having taxes refunded that nobody had ever paid before.

According to him, they want to have shared the loot fairly 50:50. The trust between mentor Berger and foster son S. is said to have been so great that they would not even have drawn up a contract. Out of sheer greed, S. testified, they grabbed the state coffers. They didn’t care that fewer kindergartens would be built as a result of their actions.

S. also states that he and Berger had, among other things, had business partners pay them via bogus invoices. In 2010 they set up their own law firm together. In total, they are said to have collected around 50 million euros. The cum-ex deals with the Hamburg Warburg Bank that were accused in Bonn alone are said to have brought them 27.3 million euros. They should now pay back the money, half each. Although the key witness is not accused in the current proceedings – he should come later in the series. However, in the run-up to the trial, S. undertook to pay his share.

Trail leads to the emirate

But where is the tax money today? During the trial, Berger’s lawyer stated that his client could not repay. S., on the other hand, provided information pointing in a different direction: east. According to the key witness, Berger founded a company in Dubai through which funds may have been transferred to Switzerland. He, S., spoke to Berger’s helpers in Dubai who claim to have been involved. He brought all this to the attention of the Cologne public prosecutor in 2017.

WDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) now have documents that support his statement. Accordingly, the trail of cum-ex money could actually lead to the emirate on the Persian Gulf, which already serves as a home and port for questionable money for some other cum-ex players: Dubai.

The confidential documents from 2013 concern a company called “Vault Ltd.” (English for: vault). In 2015, the “Tresor” got a new name, from now on it was called “Golf Cabin Limited”. At the end of 2015, his balance sheet contained a good 22.25 million euros in assets. The name Berger does not appear anywhere in the papers. But S. states that he spoke to an investment advisor in Dubai who wants to set up the companies for Berger.

Possible references to family members

In fact, the annual accounts of the Dubai companies show how part of the sum ended up in Switzerland. Possibly in favor of Berger’s relatives? Berger fled to the Alpine state in 2012 when investigators first searched his living quarters and offices for the cum-ex deals.

In 2015, “Golf Cabin Ltd” booked 13.7 million euros in long-term liabilities to a Swiss foundation called “Willow Tree”, behind which NRW investigators suspect Berger or his family. According to a loan agreement dated November 18, 2016, CHF 2.6 million went to another Swiss foundation called CGB. The letters could stand for the first names of Berger’s wife and daughter.

Another loan of CHF 1 million, signed by the asset manager in February 2016, was lent by “Golf Cabin” to a real estate holding company called “Swiss Real Estate Enterprises”. Their board of directors, according to the Swiss register: Berger’s wife and grandson.

Investigators are now trying to find out whether all of this is the case. Berger’s defense attorney Richard Beyer did not want to comment on a comprehensive inquiry about the facts. In the process, he stated that Berger could not repay any cum-ex money. Berger had repeatedly emphasized in the past that he considered Cum-Ex to be legal. However, in a recent partial confession during the trial, he should have known better from 2009. In that year, the Federal Ministry of Finance made it clear in a letter that it wanted to prevent cum-ex transactions.

Dubai popular destination for cum ex actors

If Berger actually moved cum-ex funds via Dubai, he would be in illustrious company. A leak that the SZ recently published revealed Dubai’s land register entries as of January 1, 2020. The owners of imposing villas and apartments in the emirate’s best locations included a whole series of cum-ex actors, against whom German public prosecutors are currently investigating .

Among them is the Briton Sanjay Shah, who was recently sentenced to pay billions to the Danish state because of his cum-ex deals in Dubai and who the Hamburg public prosecutor has accused of money laundering. He owns several properties and a remarkable villa on Palm Island. An extradition request from Denmark recently failed in a Dubai court. Shah denies ever having committed a crime.

Just a trustee?

The “Dubai uncovered” leak revealed another actor. The key witness Kai-Uwe S. himself, who put Berger’s financial situation in the spotlight with his statements. According to the land register, in January 2020 S. was the owner of a more than 600 square meter apartment in the “Bulgari Residences” on the artificial island of Jumeirah Bay on the coast of Dubai. Value of the apartment in the building complex designed by the Italian luxury jewelry manufacturer Bulgari: More than 3.5 million euros.

When asked, the lawyer for the Cum-Ex key witness stated that his client had specialized in the law of the United Arab Emirates, among other things. “In the case of the property you described, Mr. S. acted as a trustee for a large real estate investor who had mandated him,” it says. The property was purchased for this real estate investor when it was still under construction – and sold after completion. Since the leak only showed the financial situation as of January 1, 2020, the statement cannot be verified. Dubai, it seems, is a good place for cum-ex actors.