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Warburg-Bank in Hamburg: Wants to have fully paid the taxes that have been set
Photo:
Hanno Bode / IMAGO
The public prosecutor's office in Bonn has suspended the confiscation of around 176 million euros from the Warburg Bank announced in connection with "Cum-Ex" transactions.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said that the financial institution had claimed that it had already made these payments to the Hamburg tax office as part of the tax procedure.
This is now being clarified by the Bonn Regional Court.
The confiscation was intended to implement the first legally binding judgment of the Bonn Regional Court in the "Cum-Ex" affair.
In the judgment confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in July 2021, the bank was obliged to repay more than 176 million euros.
A bank spokesman said the bank had already done so.
"With the repayments made by Warburg to the tax office in Hamburg (in the tax proceedings), the taxes assessed by the tax office for the years 2007 to 2011 due to the so-called cum-ex stock transactions of the Warburg Bank have been paid in full."
Chancellor under pressure
Several public prosecutors and courts nationwide have been investigating for years to clear up one of the biggest tax scandals in post-war German history.
In 2021, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that "cum-ex" transactions were punishable.
However, the Federal Court of Justice had also decided that there should be “no overcompensation for the damaged tax authorities” and that confiscation was not a penalty.
Meanwhile, an investigative committee in Hamburg is continuing to investigate the political connections to this scandal.
A find of more than 200,000 euros in a safe deposit box belonging to Johannes Kahrs, a former SPD member of the Hamburg Bundestag, fueled speculation as to whether the money could also be related to the Warburg Bank, for which he is said to have brokered contacts in Hamburg City Hall.
Party friend and chancellor Olaf Scholz, who, as Hamburg's first mayor, had the co-owners of the Warburg Bank, who wanted to prevent additional taxes in the millions, is also under pressure.
Shortly thereafter, Hamburg initially waived the payment, which meant that the claim was initially considered statute-barred.
In connection with a court judgment, payment was finally made.
In "cum-ex" deals, investors used a loophole in the law to cheat the German state out of money for years.
Around the dividend record date, several participants pushed shares with (»cum«) and without (»ex«) dividend rights back and forth.
As a result, the tax authorities reimbursed capital gains taxes that had not been paid at all.
The state suffered billions in damage.
In 2012 the tax loophole was closed.
apr/dpa