The Cum-Ex scheme was an international big-style tax fraud. Banks, stock traders, and lawyers had obtained billions from European treasuries through suspected fraud and speculation involving dividend taxes. Some masterminds have now been sentenced. German lawyer Hanno Berger was sentenced to eight years. Another mastermind, the British-Indian investor Sanjay Shah will be extradited to Denmark to be charged. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was allegedly involved in the German Cum-Ex scandal.
The five hardest-hit countries may have lost at least $62.9 billion in the Cum-Ex scheme. Germany lost around $36.2 billion withdrawn from the German treasury. Estimated losses for other countries include at least €17 billion for France, €4.5 billion in Italy, €1.7 billion in Denmark, and €201 million for Belgium.
Sanjay Shah allegedly defrauded the Danish Government of 12.7 billion DKK (€1.65 billion) between 2012 and 2015 via a network of 200 shell companies. Shah may also be charged in Germany, where prosecutors investigate him on suspicion of tax evasion.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was the First Mayor of Hamburg during the Cum-Ex period. The opposition now wants to set up another committee of inquiry to investigate Cum-Ex and Scholz’s involvement. Scholz is alleged to have been involved in the Cum-Ex transactions of Warburg Bank. There are at least two meetings and a telephone conversation between Scholz and the then Chairman of the Supervisory Board and co-owner of Warburg Bank, Christian Olearius. As a result, in 2016, Hamburg allowed the statute of limitations to expire on the reclaiming of wrongfully received tax refunds from Warburg Bank‘s cum-ex transactions.
The German journalist Oliver Schroem is one of the Cum-Ex exposers. In his book “Die Akte Scholz” (The Scholz File), he says that a Cum-Ex investigative committee could have been set up long ago since the meetings between Olaf Scholz and the Warburg bankers had been known since 2020.
