A truly surprising turn in the third cum-ex trial in Bonn was probably provided by the testimony of a defendant who admitted both mistakes and “follower mentality”.
Thus, for the first time, the defensive line of the Warburg owners seems to be faltering. Gloomy prospects for SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz,as a former “team player” in this affair.
Defendant confesses on “advice of the judge”
On the 13th day of the trial of the third Cum-Ex trial, the bomb finally exploded after massive “follow-up” by the judge. A former managing director of Warburg-Invest, a subsidiary of Warburg Bank, surprisingly admitted to having been involved in the cum-ex deals. On the urgent advice of the judge, who repeatedly admonished him to finally tell the truth for his own good, the defendant would finally confess. Apparently, he acted here against the advice of his four lawyers.
“He had glossed over the events for years in order to justify his actions to himself, to others and to the judiciary,” said the defendant manager. “This was wrong, he closed his eyes, out of concern for his career, put his concerns about the deals on hold.
“He deeply regretted having created an essential condition for the execution of the transactions discussed here and the immense tax damage caused by them,” he concluded.
Defense strategy falters
So far, all those accused in the Warburg case have been loyal together. In the first trial of a former Warburg banker, the defense was still on the line of confrontation. The defendant’s now statements are now causing the line of defense to crumble for the first time.
This spectacular statement, contrary to the hitherto iron “driven” line of defense, could have far-reaching consequences, not least for Chancellor Olaf Scholz. One of the defendants, Paul Mora, is wanted internationally for such cum-ex transactions.
The alleged damage to the tax authorities and thus to the state amounts to more than 100 million euros.
In the years up to 2010, these included funds that were used for cum-ex deals. Bankers, lawyers and countless financial institutions have used them to trade shares before and after the dividend record date for years.
In doing so, they had previously unpaid capital gains tax refunded and thus facilitated the tax authorities by an estimated total of more than ten billion euros.
These so-called cum-ex deals were punishable tax evasion, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled in the summer of 2021.
With the two funds alone in the current process, the state is said to have been squeezed by more than 100 million euros at the time.
Scholz soon convicted as a “liar”?
After the proceedings against the now Chancellor Olaf Scholz, about his entanglements in this scandal, were discontinued “just in time” before the Bundestag election, there is now a threat of renewed disaster in this case.
Previously, after more than a year and a half, the Hamburg public prosecutor’s office had conducted a preliminary investigation on suspicion of embezzlement against today’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Among other things, this was due to a total of nine criminal complaints by citizens in connection with Scholz’s role in the Hamburg cum-ex scandal. Scholz was the first mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018.
On the basis of the confession of a defendant, the question now arises, will Germany soon have a chancellor who has cancelled the tax debts of a criminal organization?
Not only the citizens of this country, but also investigative journalist Oliver Schröm asked himself this legitimate question in his tweet (which we attached).
Schröm had played a key role in uncovering the Cum-Ex scandal for the past eight years.
Piše: UME
