Tax fraud
Cum-Exskandal: charge against former LBBW employees
From the Landesbank to the district court: two ex-bankers of the LBBW are said to have made stock businesses at the expense of the state treasury. After twelve years of investigation, they are charged.
In connection with the CUM-Ex Tax scandal, the Stuttgart public prosecutor has charged two former employees of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW). The men, aged 54 and 57, are said to have carried out illegal stock transactions in 2008, which are said to have caused tax damage of around 145 million euros to the state, as the indictment in Stuttgart announced.
They are said to have committed the acts together with a superior, who has now died. Community tax evasion is accused of the two men in a particularly difficult case. They were active in the securities trade and are said to have benefited from the profit that their department had through the illegal tax refund from bonuses of 70,000 and 200,000 euros.
CUM-EX is particularly severe tax evasion that had its high phase from 2006 to 2011. It is estimated that the frauds cost the Treasury a double -digit billion -dollar amount. Around the dividend date, shares with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) distribution claim were pushed back and forth. The aim of this confusion was to get taxes reimbursed that had not been paid.
The investigation has been ongoing since 2013 and, according to the public prosecutor, included 96 investigative folders. The reconstruction of the complex paths of the stock transactions is particularly complex. The proceedings against five other LBBW dealers were discontinued. The Stuttgart Regional Court must now decide on the opening of the main procedure.
LBBW paid back 200 million euros
The LBBW itself was not affected by the procedure. Upon request, a spokesman announced that internal studies on possible CUM-EX shops were already being included in their own initiative. The trigger was media reports. Transactions from the years 2007 to 2009 were identified, in which it could not be ruled out that in addition to the LBBW, a third also counted a capital gains tax carried out once.
The result of this investigation was therefore disclosed by the tax authorities, the public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart and the Bafin financial supervision. The LBBW has fully supported the investigation of the authorities from the start and also contributed to the clarification. Years ago, the bank repaid around 200 million euros in taxes and interest for the years 2007 and 2008. In 2009 no tax bill was asserted, so no repayment was necessary. In addition, the speaker did not want to comment on the ongoing procedure.
dpa
Source: Stern
