For years, investors, stock traders and banks fooled the tax authorities – and had billions of taxes reimbursed that were never paid. The investigation is far from over.
The public prosecutor’s office in Cologne searched the rooms of the former HSH Nordbank in the wake of the Cum-Ex scandal on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the successor institute Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) confirmed this at the request of the German Press Agency.
The search is therefore not directed “directly against the bank, but the bank is searched as a third party”. The Cologne public prosecutor’s office only confirmed the search at the bank, but did not want to comment on the content of the proceedings.
HSH Nordbank was the former Landesbank for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. It was sold to US investors at the end of 2018 on the instructions of the EU Commission and was renamed Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) after privatization.
“The bank is fully cooperating with the authorities,” said the bank’s spokeswoman. «HSH Nordbank already paid tax refunds of around 126 million euros in February 2014 after a pro-active review of the matter. The bank has thus offset any tax credits obtained at the expense of the treasury in connection with so-called cum / ex share transactions. ” The HCOB expressly underlines that the predecessor institute reported the facts to the tax authorities and the public prosecutor’s office on its own initiative, “without there being any external reason for this through an investigation or the like”.
The spokeswoman did not want to provide any further information with reference to an ongoing procedure. WDR, NDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” as well as the “Handelsblatt” had previously reported on the search.
In “cum-ex” transactions, investors used a loophole in the law to cheat the state for billions over the years. Around the dividend cut-off date, shares with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend entitlement were shifted back and forth between several participants. Tax authorities reimbursed capital gains taxes that had not been paid. The state suffered billions in damage. In 2012 the tax loophole was closed. Several courts and public prosecutors have been dealing with the cum-ex scandal for years.
The first judgment was passed in March 2020: the Bonn Regional Court sentenced two former stock exchange traders to probationary sentences – for tax evasion or aiding and abetting. At the end of July, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) will decide on the revisions of the two. This is the first time that the highest criminal judges in Karlsruhe will comment on the criminality of Cum-Ex transactions.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
