The Federal budget for the last 15 years has lost more than 30 billion euros because of the actions of the bankers Scam. Their fraud is investigated by the Prosecutor’s office, the damages are unlikely to compensate. The government does not recognize its guilt for the largest financial scandal in the history of Germany. The German press pays little attention to this subject, despite the magnitude. Only journalists of Die Zeit in cooperation with the television program Panorama (ARD) conducted a detailed investigation and paid close attention to the flagrant scandal.
For the past fifteen years organized crime has put out a budget of Germany almost € 32 billion. It is not “laundered” the money obtained from trafficking or drugs — that’s our taxes, in accordance with the loopholes gained by criminals from the Treasury as compensation for tax payments in trading securities. And “organized crime” the German press calls no thugs with guns in his hands: in this case, a group of bankers, who began to Rob the state of Frankfurt and later settled in London.
The German budget as a result of the actions of bankers has suffered damage equal to at least 31.8 billion euros. This damage is responsible a small group of business people from (still) the financial capital of Europe London — about ten people, investment bankers, who are currently mainly employed in giving the testimony of the Cologne Prosecutor’s office. More information on cause its representatives do not give, referring to interests of investigation and secret taxation. “This is the largest tax scandal in the history of the Federal Republic,” — said Professor University of Mannheim in the field of tax law Spengel Christoph (Christoph Spengel). The expert did a great job evaluating the financial performance of transactions of the “London gang” since 2001, and calculated the estimated (minimum) amount caused by its actions the damage.
The essence of criminal business
The scheme used by fraudsters in business suits in the financial world is called Cum-Ex or Cum-Cum transactions, they are described by the concept of “separation of dividends”: it is the purchase of shares shortly before the announcement of the dividend and selling soon after it is received. After a change of ownership of the shares at the time podhodnoj under the period of dividend payment, the Bank issues a number of documents about the property. Subsequently, these documents may be submitted to the tax authorities to receive compensation of the paid tax on capital income (Kapitalertragsteuer) that has successfully done the fraudsters are no tax paying or paying once and repeatedly demanding compensation.
Business at public expense shares on a Cum-Cum and Ex-Cum transaction. In both cases we are talking about the refund of the paid tax on capital income, when such return is not put to the applicant. If Cum-Cum, the deal the local Bank for a percentage helps to get compensation to the foreign investor, buying it the day before the dividend payment shares and returning them after payment of dividends. Thus, the Federal Republic lost between 2001 and 2016 a minimum of 24,6 billion euros — one and a half billion a year.
More complex Cum-Ex processes, in which at the time of payment of dividends (and paying tax on income from capital) of the action were two or more owners at the same time, that is, the tax is paid once, and returned from budget to each of the owners. That is, if Cum-Cum can still be regarded as a simple attempt to evade payment of tax, the Cum-Ex — is outright fraud with the tax refund, which has not been paid! Losses from the Cum-Ex from 2005 to 2012 reached 7.2 billion — a billion euros a year. Likely they above as these transactions took place prior to 2005.
From a legal point of view Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum is a very complex issue, including officials of the Ministry of Finance does not hide that is not fully versed in the nuances of these transactions. Today, experts do not doubt that at least a number of associated processes are beyond the law. Previously, these business processes were evaluated by the assessment as the relevant German tax law, but the examination was mainly conducted by professionals who are paid by the participants and organizers of transactions.
Giant scale derived from Treasury funds, explains the enormous amount of funds involved in scams. For example, only in 2011, two London-based investment Fund specializing in Cum-Ex transactions carried them to 47 billion euros. The vast majority of transactions related to the stock trading of the leading German companies on the basis of the quotations of their securities is the main stock index Germany DAX. At certain times of the year these investment funds belonged to 7 percent of the company Daimler, Bayer 9 percent, 12 percent Lufthansa.
The vigilance of the financial officer
For the first time the strange securities has come to the attention of employees located in Bonn’s Central tax office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern), or rather, his employee, who preferred to appear in the press under the pseudonym Anna Zablonski (Anna Schablonski) — six years ago, on 22 June 2011. Zablonski to the time worked in the office only six months. She was surprised by an unusually high volume of transactions: the applicant, a pension Fund of the United States, within two months acquired the shares of German companies by 6.4 billion euros and soon done with them, demanding compensation of paid tax on capital in the amount of 53 882 080 Euro 94 cent. The sole beneficiary of the Fund has been one individual. Instead of a tax refund Zablonski sent the Fund a long questionnaire with a request to clarify the situation. Random distrust the simple deloproizvodstva provoked a real panic in London, new York, Zurich and other global financial centres. Involved lawyers, experts, the Bonn tax office received only evasive answers, which again raised doubts about the compliance of transactions with the law. In fact, years of financial fraud is now considered the largest in the history of Germany, was uncovered not by prosecutors or by the Ministers: it has shed light thirty years of vigilant tax inspector.
In the Bundestag set up a special Commission to investigate fraud, edele are Cologne, Munich and Frankfurt Prosecutor’s office. The journalists of the newspaper Die Zeit and the first channel of public television ARD six months conducted their own investigation by going on the scene — in Britain, Switzerland, USA. In an attempt to reconstruct the economic crime of unprecedented scale, they conducted numerous conversations with lawyers, lawyers, bankers, investigators, former Minister of Finance of Germany, representatives of the tax and regulatory authorities, has examined tens of thousands of pages of financial documents, account statements, emails, protocols, searches and records of telephone conversations. Journalistic investigation details restores picture stretching for decades of fraud that facilitated Treasury billions, and yet the main questions remain unanswered. How is it that a small group of people for a long period of time, fabulously enriched at the expense of the German taxpayer, and this put an end to the accident? 31.8 billion euros is the final amount, and if not, what are the real extent of the damage? Who will bear responsibility for it and what state to fraudsters under the guise of investment bankers had no chance to deceive him in the future?
From new York to Frankfurt
Pension Fund, on a motion which drew the attention of Anna Zablonski, was in new York on wall street. On the spot nothing is known about him: on the 20th floor of a skyscraper is offered for rent “virtual offices”. Along with the mailbox and telephone service the monthly cost is 20.04 dollar.
Such pension funds, registered in the U.S. the only beneficiary and demanded compensation from Germany paid tax on the capital after the transactions with securities was not less than six. The requirements of each — tens of millions of euros. The Central tax office in Bonn for a year handles about 20 thousand of these applications for compensation. Zablonski found ten suspicious applications totaling 315 million euros. Further, collecting the tax puzzle, accountant revealed incredible scheme for enhancement of capital each invested the pension Fund in purchase of shares, million turned into a few million and a multiplier of the state, properly returns the taxes that were never received.
The case involved not only the American pension funds. German banks — including Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HypoVereinsbank, DZ Bank, HSH Nordbank, Land Bank of Baden-württemberg (LBBW) is perceived by tax authorities as a self-service store and conducted the same operations. The complicity of banks makes the Scam particularly explosive. If you have to return commissions on transactions, many financial and lending institutions will not without difficulty. The Federal financial Supervisory authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) believe that the Cum-Ex transactions engaged in four decades of German banks. Many came into the business in the midst of economic crisis, when the state did everything to save the banking system from collapse. “If you have to return the stolen goods, the collapse of many banks is expected today,” confirms the fears BaFin Professor Spengel.
The brains of the operation
Customer service experts, who acknowledged Cum-Ex transactions as lawful, was a lawyer Hanno Berger (Hanno Berger). In 2012, searches in his Frankfurt office, he moved to Switzerland. Berger began his career in the 1990s in the Central Department of the Frankfurt tax inspections, dealing mainly with tax issues solid banks. For six years, Berger headed it, then went in the free swimming as a financial consultant.
His clients became the company scale Adidas, and Karstadt, entrepreneurs level of BMW owners of Kwangchow (Quandt). Berger has become one of the most famous financial advisers in Germany to the limit by stretching her tax laws for the benefit of customers. The initial task is to minimize contributions soon turned into the idea to Rob the state. Not too late 2006 Hanno Berger begins to engage in Cum-Ex transactions.
The scheme brought to perfection, pay the examination reports all within the law, it is believed by many customers.
In the Hessian Ministry of Economics there was an expert to warn about the dangers Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum transactions in 1990-ies. He got that they were informed by the Prime Minister of the earth Hans, ajhel (Hans Eichel). In 1998, Aihal became Minister of Finance in the government of Gerhard schröder (Gerhard Schröder). Today, Eichel claims: fraud in such transactions it is very clear to any banker, lawyer, stock broker must be absolutely clear that it is impossible to claim refund of tax which was not paid. But as the German Finance Minister, today’s pensioners were unaware of such operations. That information about them he received in the 1990s, Eichel’t remember.
The Federal government once again drew attention to the Cum-Ex transactions in 2007, when the post of Finance Minister Per Steinbrueck took (Peer Steinbrück). Changes of the law lead to the fact that German banks can no longer act as the sellers of the shares, which then will require payment. But foreign banks are still allowed: the business of Berger translated to London, where he plans and organizes a small group of investment bankers.
Slowly, by 2009 the Finance Ministry issued a decree banning the Cum-Ex transactions in any banks. Only by December 2010 a decree was published and came into force. “Game over” — responded to changes colleagues Hanno Berger. And entered into it with new forces: from banks, which route to Cum-Ex trades were closed, the fraudsters have moved on to pension funds, thus, was one person whose operations raise questions of Anna Zablonski of the Central tax authorities.
Greed
In an extensive scheme of legal entities were involved in the intermediate court — the Luxembourg investment Fund Sheridan, perevalivatsya millions among the customers, in whose interests acted bankers, and American funds. The list of persons who utilized the services of Sheridan, reminiscent of the “who’s who” of successful German businesses in Cum trades invested by the owner of the retail chain Müller Erwin müller (Erwin Müller), a heavyweight in the field of real estate URS Brunner (Brunner Urs), a manufacturer of sports clothing Peter Sefel (Peter Schöffel), meat Fabrikant Tennis Clemens (Clemens Tönnies) and his family. Speakers witnesses Cum-Ex representatives of the banking sphere is called design with pension funds “difficult from a tax point of view and reprehensible from a moral one.” The number of millionaires invested testified, regretting their actions, some refer to the experts who said “All in the spirit of the law.” The case against Hanno Berger and other bankers is in connection with evasion from payment of taxes in especially large sizes and fraud. The weight of the evidence is so great that many of his associates are cooperating with the investigation.
Cum-Ex transactions was banned only 20 years after the first warning. In 2016, the turn came Cum-Cum transactions. Current Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (Wolfgang Schäuble) said the situation with this business is “extremely challenging”. The state lost at least the amount of close to € 32 billion. It is unknown when it opened and even more than the outcome of the trial in the case of bankers Scam. Will it be possible to recover at least part has money?
In the Central tax office with this engaged group of 30 people. On taken from the budget of the scams means Germany could build a highway with a length of 1200 kilometers or 36 Philharmonics.
