Shortly before the upcoming Cum-Ex judgment against German tax lawyer Hanno Berger, the Cologne public prosecutor’s office is investigating people close to him, according to a media report. Berger’s relatives have been raided on suspicion of money laundering. House searches have also been carried out in Switzerland in the context of legal aid.
This is reported by the German Handelsblatt on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Cologne public prosecutor’s office said it is a preliminary investigation against six suspects and the first suspicion of particularly serious money laundering.
Accordingly, search warrants were already executed on Tuesday for residential and commercial properties in the Main-Kinzig district and in Offenbach in the German state of Hesse.
In addition, searches also took place in Switzerland in the context of legal aid, in the cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Graubünden and Schwyz. The Keystone-SDA news agency initially received no confirmation of this information from the authorities in Switzerland.
Berger fled to Switzerland in 2012 after the German judiciary had his office in Frankfurt am Main searched in 2012. At the beginning of July 2021, the lawyer was arrested at his residence in the canton of Graubünden due to two German extradition requests.
He resisted to no avail: in February 2022, it became known that the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) had approved Berger’s extradition to Germany. He has been in custody ever since.
Berger has been on trial since April at the Bonn regional court on suspicion of serious tax evasion. The verdict will be on December 12 or 13. Berger faces up to 15 years in prison.
According to the report, the 72-year-old had stated in court that he was penniless and could not repay the profits from the cum-ex deals. Berger is considered a key figure in the cum-ex scandal. The former tax official had touted the stock deals with banks and the wealthy as a legally secure tax optimization, advising on the construction of the deals and making money from the deals.
In the deal, banks and other investors had used a loophole to get tax refunds they hadn’t paid. It is estimated that the Treasury lost at least ten billion euros. Parallel to the trial in Bonn, Berger must also answer to the Wiesbaden court for further cum-ex deals.
(yam/sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
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