Hamburg banker Christian Olearius is one of the best-known defendants in the investigation into the Cum-Ex tax scandal. The trial against him is now approaching a premature end.
The Cum-Ex criminal case against the Hamburg banker Christian Olearius (82) is to be discontinued due to the defendant’s permanent inability to stand trial. The public prosecutor’s office has requested this, the Bonn Regional Court announced.
The background to this is a medical report obtained by the court, according to which the defendant is in such poor health that the trial days should in future last a maximum of 45 minutes. With such a time limit, the prosecutors estimate that the remaining evidence would take up to 120 trial days – this would not be reasonable for the defendant, even from the point of view of the public prosecutor, given the health risks.
Among other things, Olearius has blood pressure problems; on the last few days of the trial, an emergency doctor was always present in the courtroom by order of the court. According to a statement from the court, the public prosecutor’s office has also applied for the criminal proceedings to be transferred to a so-called confiscation procedure and for the confiscation of proceeds from crimes amounting to around 43 million euros. The defense has opposed this. It is demanding an acquittal and only in the alternative that the case be discontinued. The trial is due to continue next Wednesday.
“I have neither knowingly nor willingly participated in criminal Cum-Ex transactions”
Olearius is accused of particularly serious tax evasion. During the trial, he protested his innocence and claimed ignorance. “I neither knowingly nor willingly participated in criminal cum-ex transactions,” he testified in Bonn. Rather, he assumed that the share purchase contracts were legal. “It was far from my intention to harm the state.”
The Cum-Ex fraud involving illegal share deals is considered the biggest tax scandal in Germany. Securities with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend entitlements were quickly passed back and forth between financial players. In the end, the tax authorities unknowingly reimbursed banks, stock traders and consultants for capital gains taxes that had not even been paid. The German state is said to have suffered losses estimated at ten billion euros as a result of the transactions of a total of around 1,700 accused persons.
Scholz hit three times
Olearius’ diary entries revealed that he had met three times with the future Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) when he was still mayor of Hamburg. The exact content of the meetings is unclear. However, it is a fact that the tax authorities subsequently dropped a demand and the claims subsequently became time-barred under the legal situation at the time. It has not been proven that there was a causal connection between the Scholz-Olearius meetings and the authorities’ decision. Scholz rules out political influence, but cites gaps in his memory when asked about the exact content of the discussions.
Source: Stern
