As of: February 27, 2024, 11:57 a.m
Comments
Press
Split
Tax lawyer Hanno Berger earned millions with cum-ex transactions.
(Archive image) © Oliver Berg/dpa
Tax lawyer Hanno Berger is considered the architect of cum-ex deals.
He is defending himself against his conviction for tax evasion in all instances.
But Karlsruhe rejected him.
Karlsruhe - Hanno Berger has suffered a defeat in the Federal Constitutional Court in his fight against a long prison sentence for serious tax evasion.
He is considered a key figure in the Cum-Ex business.
A constitutional complaint from Berger, which was directed against the earlier rejection of his appeal by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), was not accepted for decision, the highest German court in Karlsruhe announced.
“The constitutional complaint is inadmissible because it has not been adequately justified.”
In December 2022, the Bonn regional court sentenced Berger to eight years in prison and to repay 13.7 million euros for three cases of particularly serious tax evasion.
His appeal, however, failed before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in the fall, and the judgment is legally binding.
Berger, who is considered the driving force in the cum-ex tax scandal in Germany, then filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court - and failed again.
Legal recourse for Berger in Germany has been exhausted
According to the Federal Constitutional Court, Berger had claimed a violation of his fundamental procedural right to a fair trial, but there was a lack of “a sufficient explanation of the constitutional standards”.
The court also did not accept the argument that the challenged decisions violated his fundamental procedural right to be heard.
A violation of the right to the legal judge was also not sufficiently demonstrated.
Up to 15 years in prison are possible
Regardless of the Bonn verdict, the Wiesbaden regional court imposed a prison sentence of eight years and three months on Berger in May 2023 for other cum-ex cases.
The verdict is not yet final, and Berger is also defending himself against it.
If the Wiesbaden judgment also becomes final, both judgments can be offset.
This means that Berger faces a maximum of 15 years in prison - but in reality it is likely to be significantly less.
Berger is considered to be the pioneer of cum-ex deals being carried out on a large scale.
Berger praised the deals with banks and the rich as legally secure tax optimization, advised on the construction and earned millions from it.
Later, “Mr.
Cum-Ex” before the judiciary in Switzerland until he was extradited to Germany in February 2022.
In the tax deals, shares with and without dividend claims were moved back and forth between investors.
At the end of the confusion, the tax authorities refunded taxes that had not been paid.
For a long time it was unclear whether cum-ex deals were illegal.
The tax loophole was only closed in 2012.
In 2021, the Federal Court of Justice decided that the transactions should be viewed as tax evasion.
The tax damage in Germany with Cum-Ex is estimated at at least ten billion euros.
dpa