Former Fortis banker extradited to Germany

Frankfurt skyline

The former banker is in custody in the Main metropolis.

(Photo: Reuters)

Cologne A few days after his arrest in Mallorca, the Spanish authorities extradited the banker H. accused in the Cum-Ex scandal to Germany. H. was brought before the magistrate in Frankfurt on Saturday. Now the suspect is in custody in the Frankfurt-Preungesheim prison.

H. is considered an important figure in the cum-ex scandal. The Latin term describes trading in shares with (cum) and without (ex) dividends around the distribution date. The banks and investors involved set out to have capital gains tax that had only been paid once reimbursed several times.

The criminal investigation is in full swing. Three judgments have been pronounced, two of which have already been confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice. Three further main hearings are currently taking place at the regional courts in Bonn, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt.

The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the accused H. Their spokesman confirmed that the suspect was extradited on Friday last week. Unlike in the case of the accused tax attorney Hanno Berger, the extradition took place at short notice.

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Berger had long resisted being extradited from Switzerland. In contrast, H. has agreed to be transferred to a German prison. H. is a German citizen.

Part of the “Holland Connection”

The crimes he is accused of stem from a time when he was the managing director of Fortis GSLA GmbH. The Frankfurt-based GmbH was a German subsidiary of the Benelux bank Fortis. Fortis now belongs to the Dutch institute ABN Amro. H. is considered to be well connected in the cum-ex scene and is said to have been involved in organizing the business in various places.

“He is accused of having initiated and implemented a cum-ex short sale model several times between 2008 and 2010, together with other co-accused,” said the public prosecutor’s office on the occasion of his arrest in Mallorca.

The authorities put the potential damage caused by H. and some other suspects at 51 million euros. The crimes are said to have been committed in 2008 and 2009. The suspects used false tax certificates to get a refund for taxes not paid by “good faith” tax officials.

H. is said to have been part of a group operating out of the Netherlands. Fortis Bank got involved in the business early on. Later, individual managers became self-employed with their own companies in order to continue the deals outside the bank. The general public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt and the public prosecutor’s office in Cologne are now investigating a number of managers of this Holland connection.

More: Damages in the billions: state banks sink into cum-ex affair

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