Federal Minister of Economics: Scholz: BGH decision on “Cum-Ex” a “good thing”

Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz welcomes the decision of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on the criminalization of multi-billion “Cum-Ex” share transactions at the expense of the tax authorities.

“The decision is really a good thing for us as taxpayers and for justice,” said the SPD candidate for Chancellor of the Funke media group (Saturday). “The court made it clear that Cum-Ex was never legal and the tax liability is never statute-barred.” It is a good thing that those who may have not acted in a criminal offense themselves but who have benefited economically will have to give their profits back.

The BGH ruled on Wednesday that the nationwide first criminal judgment for cum-ex stock transactions at the expense of the tax office is final. The judges in Karlsruhe rejected the appeals of the two accused ex-stock exchange traders from London and the public prosecutor’s office. They also confirmed that a three-digit million amount is to be collected from the private bank MM Warburg involved in the scandal.

Investors, banks and stock traders had cheated the German tax authorities by billions of euros for years with cum-ex deals. Shares with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend entitlements were shifted back and forth around the reporting date. For these transactions, the parties involved had capital gains tax reimbursed, which they had never paid. With the BGH ruling, it is now finally clear that not only a tax loophole was used here. In March 2020, the Bonn Regional Court sentenced the British to suspended sentences for tax evasion or aiding and abetting.

Scholz denied allegations that he was the first mayor of Hamburg to influence the tax proceedings of the Warburg Bank involved in the scandal. “There was no political influence on the tax administration in Hamburg,” he said. He said that from the start. “All affected bodies and the responsible officials have shown in public surveys that there was no influence.”