financial fraud
Cum-Ex key figure Berger is extradited
File folder with the inscription “Dr. Berger” in a process for cum-ex stock deals (archive). Hanno Berger is extradited from Switzerland. Photo: Boris Roessler/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
A key figure in the cum-ex scandal about tax fraud, probably worth billions, is being extradited to the German judiciary. Now an even bigger tax scandal is looming.
One of the key figures in the scandal surrounding illegal cum-ex stock transactions is handed over to the German judiciary.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice has approved the extradition of tax lawyer Hanno Berger, said a spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Justice in Düsseldorf. There are no more appeals against the decision.
While Berger and more than 1,300 suspects are being investigated in the Cum-Ex scandal, an even bigger fraud scandal is obviously looming. According to NRW Minister of Justice Peter Biesenbach, the Cum-Ex fraud is probably only the “tip of the iceberg”, despite its estimated double-digit billion volume. There are “strong suspicions” for this, said the CDU politician of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
The Cum-Ex investigators in Cologne had come across other methods of suspected tax fraud, confirmed a ministry spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. “In order not to jeopardize the investigations, we cannot outline these models at the moment.”
NRW Minister Biesenbach told the newspaper: “Anyone who thinks they can plunder the state must expect the state to accept the challenge. We want the money.” There will be further publicly effective actions in the near future. He assumes that the number of investigations will increase significantly this year.
In the Hanno Berger case, both the Hessian and the North Rhine-Westphalian judiciary had applied for the extradition of the German lawyer. Both requests have now been granted, the spokeswoman said. A quick transfer of the accused is expected.
The Swiss Federal Office initially did not comment on the case. For security reasons, one never informs about an extradition before it is carried out. Berger was arrested in the canton of Graubünden and has been in extradition custody since last summer.
Berger, a former tax official, is believed to be one of the architects of the model in which banks and investors never had taxes refunded. He last lived in Switzerland and had rejected the allegations.
He and his lawyer argue, among other things, that the offenses he was accused of were not punishable in Switzerland. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court contradicted this: “It obviously cannot be right that a withheld tax is paid twice,” the court argued. The procedure can be described as fraudulent.
In cum-ex transactions, banks and other financial players pushed shares with («cum») and without («ex») dividend rights back and forth around the dividend record date. The aim of the confusion was the refund of taxes that had not been paid.
According to estimates, the German state lost an amount in the double-digit billions as a result. Cum-Ex peaked between 2006 and 2012. Several courts and public prosecutors have been dealing with the scandal for years.