Enlarge image
Peter Singh Virdee Singh, called "Batman" (archive image)
Photo: MATRIXPICTURES.CO.UK / imago images / Matrix
He is considered a key figure in the case of a so-called sales tax carousel that cost the German tax authorities almost 125 million euros: The British Peter Virdee Singh, known as "Batman", has been imprisoned for three years and three months in six cases by the Frankfurt am Main regional court for serious tax evasion To be sentenced. The attorney general there confirmed to SPIEGEL on request.
The verdict was issued on December 16 - without the public having been informed. In the sentence, among other things, Singh's confession and voluntary "reparation payments" of the convicted person in the amount of 3.9 million euros played a role, it said. According to SPIEGEL information, Singh is currently back in Great Britain before he has to begin his prison sentence. The UK had transferred him to Germany a week before the verdict was to be pronounced. Officials from the Serious and Organized Crime Department of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) accompanied him at the time. At times, Singh was one of the most wanted men in Europe.
The fraud model of Singh and his accomplices was based on the trading of emissions certificates, as the public prosecutor's office and the BKA reconstructed in years of investigative work: A group of business people imported CO2 certificates tax-free from an EU country to Germany, smuggled them through numerous bogus companies and transferred them Deutsche Bank out again.
The trick was to get 19 percent sales tax reimbursed by the tax authorities on export, which in truth was never paid.
Several members of the gang had already been sentenced to imprisonment for this.
Singh himself had long portrayed himself as a righteous, successful businessman.
There are pictures of him shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II or showing himself with pop star Rihanna.
bbr / jdl / mgb