BAccording to the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office, a key figure in stock transactions around the dividend deadline has now been assessed as tax fraud and has been arrested in Switzerland. A spokesperson for the Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office said that tax expert Hanno Berger fled to the Swiss mountain village Zuoz in 2012 and was arrested by the Swiss authorities.
The Swiss authorities confirmed that Berger was arrested in Graubunden on Wednesday after Germany filed an extradition request. But he didn’t want to be taken to Germany. A source from the Ministry of Justice said: “The extradition process is currently pending trial by the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ).”
“Handelsblatt” had previously reported that Berger was extradited and detained and is currently checking his health. The newspaper wrote that if there are no concerns about Berger’s extradition, tax lawyers can still appeal the extradition, but usually it will not succeed.
Billions of people escaped
The Bonn District Court issued an arrest warrant against Berger in June because he did not go there to stand trial in accordance with the subpoena. Berger is considered to be the inventor of the confusing revolving business around dividend dates. The investment companies and banks he suggested can credit multiple times and pay only one capital gains tax. In this way, it is said that the former state-owned banks such as West LB and HSH Nordbank and private banks such as MM Warburg evaded more than 10 billion euros in total.
In one case alone, Berger had to bear more than 460 million euros in tax losses. Berger himself described his past investigations as judicial scandals. He is just helping his clients save taxes. This is not a crime. In fact, there was a loophole in the law used by Cum-Ex operators, which was not closed until 2012.
At the same time, several prosecutors’ offices and courts across the country are investigating to clarify that this may be the largest tax scandal in German post-war history. Since March, the Wiesbaden District Court has been conducting a procedure that also involves Berger’s role. According to Reuters, Berger was arrested on the basis of an arrest warrant from the Wiesbaden District Court. Negotiations are ongoing in Wiesbaden on the allegations made by the Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office against two former employees of Hypo-Vereinsbank (Reference: 6 KLs-1111 Js 27125/12).
The Office of the Attorney General used a sophisticated system to accuse the defendant of tax evasion. Berger, who denies these allegations, is the “driving” force.However, Berger did not appear in the trial against him
Cut off.
