The convict was part of the private bank.
(Photo: IMAGO/Hanno Bode)
Dusseldorf A long, successful career ends behind bars. More than 60 years ago, Christian S. completed an apprenticeship as a bank clerk at the Städtische Spar- und Girokasse in Stuttgart.
He made his career through the Kreissparkasse Aalen, the Deutsche Bank, the Amro-Handelsbank and the Deutsche Handelsbank. He was involved in setting up European branches and traveled to Geneva, London and Madrid. In 1993, Christian S. moved to the Hamburg private bank MM Warburg.
In Hamburg, he took on responsibility for accounting, the annual financial statements, tax matters and business risk controlling. In mid-2010, at the age of 66, he reduced his working hours to part-time. He has been retired since 2016.
S. would certainly have imagined his retirement differently. The 79-year-old is due to start his sentence in the Singen branch of the Konstanz correctional facility shortly. A spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Bonn confirmed to the Handelsblatt when asked that S. had been summoned to prison. S. now has a month to begin his detention.
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Christian S. is the first German banker who has to go to prison permanently because of his bank’s cum-ex transactions. The Latin term describes stock group transactions around the dividend record date. Those involved had taxes refunded that they had not paid at all.
Conflict defense unsuccessful
On June 1, 2021, the Bonn Regional Court sentenced Christian S., as the former general representative of MM Warburg, to five and a half years in prison. His defense attorneys – including former Federal Court Judge Thomas Fischer – had opted for conflict throughout the trial.
In the cum-ex transactions, the banks collected tax money twice.
(Photo: dpa)
The lawyers of S. appealed against the verdict. Without success: The Federal Court of Justice upheld the verdict in May 2022.
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“The defendant either signed the corporation tax returns, which contained incorrect information about the bank’s refund claims – which actually did not exist – or he checked the prepared drafts and released them despite incorrect information on the signature,” the Federal Court of Justice explained in its decision. Christian S. is responsible together with others for a tax loss of 168 million euros.
Other people in charge could include Christian Olearius, the longtime boss and main shareholder of MM Warburg. Olearius is himself accused. The condemned S. was considered the right hand of Olearius.
Ex-bank boss Olearius accused
The Cologne public prosecutor has already submitted an indictment against the 80-year-old. Olearius is also accused of serious tax evasion. He is said to have helped MM Warburg damage the tax authorities by almost 300 million euros.
The matter is currently with the Bonn Regional Court, which is deciding on the admission of the indictment. A complaint against the prosecutor – Olearius felt he had not been heard sufficiently – was rejected by the Cologne Higher Regional Court.
The tax attorney Hanno Berger was recently sentenced to several years in prison.
(Photo: dpa)
Olearius protests his innocence. In his opinion, his bank complied with the applicable law. It is the position that MM Warburg also held for a long time.
The bank is now distancing itself from its past. “The Warburg Group’s tax assessment of the cum-ex transactions has proven to be incorrect,” it says on its website. “The members of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Directors of MM Warburg & Co disapprove of illegal tax arrangements of any kind.”
Prosecutor sees potential false testimony
Olearius’ general representative Christian S. did not go along with this turnaround. In court, he acted taciturnly, denied his guilt and also rejected the accusation that those involved in the crime had used bogus invoices to smuggle an amount in the double-digit millions to business partners in Switzerland.
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One of the most important advisors and beneficiaries of the deals was tax attorney Hanno Berger, who also faces criminal charges. The Bonn Regional Court recently sentenced him to nine years in prison. He is still being tried in Wiesbaden.
With his potential false statement, Christian S. has got himself into new difficulties: Because of his representation, new investigations have been initiated against him. That could have dire consequences. As a rule, suspects should not hope for any relief in the execution of sentences.
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