Tax fraud: Cum-Ex: Warburg Bank files a constitutional complaint

Tax fraud
Cum-Ex: Warburg Bank files a constitutional complaint

Warburg Bank, involved in the “Cum-Ex” affair, and its owners Max Warburg and Christian Olearius have lodged a constitutional complaint against a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

In the judgment pronounced at the end of July, the BGH had confirmed a ruling by the Bonn Regional Court against two ex-stock exchange traders from London and thus for the first time established the criminality of so-called cum-ex transactions by the highest court. Warburg and Olearius were violated in their rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, said lawyer Peter Gauweiler on Friday in front of the parliamentary committee of inquiry of the Hamburg citizenship. Therefore, a complaint was submitted to the Federal Constitutional Court on Thursday.

No admission of guilt

In the judgment, the bank owners were denied the basic right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence, since it contained “final determinations on Olearius’ alleged criminal guilt”, especially with regard to Olearius, without this having previously been established in a constitutional process, said Gauweiler.

The BGH had ruled that the criminal offense of tax evasion had been met in the case of “cum-ex” transactions, and also confirmed that the Warburg Bank had to repay more than 176 million euros. The Hamburg bank had in the meantime already settled the claims without an admission of guilt, as the bank had always emphasized. She had also announced that she would continue to take action against the tax assessments.

In their complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court, the bank and its owners are now demanding the annulment of the BGH judgment and referral back to the Federal Court of Justice, said Gauweiler.

dpa