They are said to have smuggled more than 9 billion crowns past the state with cum-ex tax tricks.
5th place: Copenhagen – Denmark. 7.60
Prosecutors in Denmark have charged two British bankers with billions in tax fraud. The two are accused of having smuggled more than nine billion Danish kroner (1.2 billion euros) past the tax authorities as part of “cum-ex” tax tricks, as the public prosecutor said on Thursday.
The case is “extremely serious”. The accused had “committed carefully planned fraud”. If convicted by a Danish court, they face a maximum sentence of up to twelve years in prison.
But whether they actually have to go to prison is open. One of the bankers lives in Dubai, the other in Great Britain. As long as they do not appear physically in court, the process cannot continue. “We are not so naive as to believe that they will appear in Denmark on their own initiative and face many years in prison,” said prosecutor Per Fiig.
The public prosecutor's office in Denmark has been investigating “Cum-Ex” for some time in cooperation with authorities in Germany, Belgium and Great Britain. The Danish state has suffered more than twelve billion crowns in damage since 2016 due to the tax tricks with stock dividends. Around a quarter of it has already been confiscated from various people and companies. The prosecutors admitted, however, that collecting the remaining amounts was difficult.
In Germany, around 1,000 suspects at more than 100 banks are being targeted by investigators for “cum-ex” transactions. Worldwide, the damage to states runs into billions. Last year, the Bonn Regional Court sentenced two traders to suspended sentences. They gave extensive testimony in the process and, according to the judges, contributed to the clarification.
In the “cum-ex” transactions, investors can have a once-paid capital gains tax on stock dividends reimbursed several times with the help of banks. To this end, they moved shares with – that is, cum – and without – ex – dividend entitlement to one another around the cut-off date for the dividend payment.
