Hanno Berger appeals to the Federal Court of Justice

Bonn After being sentenced to eight years in prison, cum-ex architect Hanno Berger wants to go to the Federal Court of Justice. The 72-year-old said that he would appeal, the Bonn district court said on Wednesday morning on request. After delivery of the written judgment, he has one month to justify the appeal.

Last week, the district court sentenced Berger to prison for particularly serious tax evasion in three cases between 2007 and 2011. The court estimated the tax damage of these three cases at 276 million euros. Berger received 13.7 million euros, which he has to repay.

The 72-year-old was a driving force in the share deals, in which financial players staged a confusion about the dividend record date and the tax authorities reimbursed unpaid taxes. The tax lawyer Berger advised banks and mediated investors in order to get large loans with their capital and then be able to invest a lot of money in the cum-ex deals. Another case is pending before the Wiesbaden district court against Berger in connection with the Cum-Ex scandal.

When the verdict was announced in Bonn, the presiding judge Roland Zickler said that the accused could consider waiving an appeal. In principle, a legally concluded procedure could also have consequences for the other pending procedure.

Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that an offense may not be prosecuted if the penalty is not significant in addition to an already final conviction. This assessment would be the task of Wiesbaden, for the Bonn district court the procedure has been completed.

Berger’s lawyer Richard Beyer had said after the Bonn verdict that the verdict in relation to the findings of the court was a guilty verdict “which must be regarded as guilty and appropriate to the punishment”.

More: End of an escape – Eight years in prison for tax attorney Hanno Berger