2024-04-23 08:59:38
For years, Anne Brorhilker was the public prosecutor in charge of the cum-ex scandal. Now she has quit and is sharply criticizing the German reaction to the scandal.
Cum-Ex chief investigator Anne Brorhilker has resigned – and is criticizing the political handling of the tax scandal. Brorhilker had asked for her dismissal from her position as a civil servant, a spokesman for the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Monday in response to a dpa request. WDR had previously reported. The authority did not comment on Brorhilker’s reasons. The senior public prosecutor played a central role in the prosecution of cum-ex tax fraudsters.
Brorhilker told WDR: “I have always been a prosecutor with heart and soul, especially in the area of economic crime, but I am not at all satisfied with the way financial crime is prosecuted in Germany.” This can be summarized in one sentence: “You hang the little ones, you let the big ones go.”
Eleven years after the first cum-ex cases became known, politicians have still not reacted adequately. Tax theft has not stopped by a long shot; there are Cum-Ex successor models. There is no control over what happens at banks and on the stock markets. Brorhilker spoke out in favor of more law enforcement personnel and a central federal authority to combat financial crime.
Investigations against 1,700 suspects
In around 120 cum-ex investigations, 1,700 suspects were investigated in Cologne under Brorhilker’s leadership; the public prosecutor’s office took the lead nationwide in dealing with the scandal.
The Cum-Ex fraud with illegal stock deals, which peaked from 2006 to 2011, is estimated to have defrauded the German state of a double-digit billion sum. It is considered the biggest tax scandal in the Federal Republic. Papers with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend claims were moved back and forth between financial players in a short period of time. In the end, the tax authorities unknowingly reimbursed banks, stock traders and consultants for capital gains taxes that had not been paid. It was only with a change in the law that took effect in January 2012 that these deals were put to a stop.
Some perpetrators have now been sentenced, including the tax lawyer and cum-ex architect Hanno Berger to eight years in prison, as well as former employees of Maple Bank. A former star lawyer from the major law firm Freshfields also had to go to prison for aiding and abetting serious tax evasion. Warburg banker Christian Olearius is also on trial.
“Declaration of war on financial criminals”
Brorhilker announced to WDR that she would like to work in the fight against financial crime as managing director of the non-governmental organization “Citizens’ Movement for Financial Transition”. Her aim is to get to the root of the problem. “Anne Brorhilker’s move to Finanzwende is a declaration of war against financial criminals and their supporters,” said Finanzwende board member Gerhard Schick.
Even more than a decade after its peak, the cum-ex scandal has still not been comprehensively investigated under criminal law – there are gaps, for example, in the role of well-known major banks and former state banks such as WestLB. The state lost even more money than with Cum-Ex in related Cum-Cum deals, which were more widespread and hardly ever dealt with legally. The Mannheim financial scientist Christoph Spengel estimates the tax damage between 2000 and 2020 at 28.5 billion euros.
“Perpetrators with a lot of money and good contacts encounter a weak justice system and can simply buy their way out of these proceedings,” said Brorhilker. She spoke out against ending the proceedings through settlements in order to reduce the burden on the judiciary. The state often does not even receive half of the amount it is entitled to. “Why should we allow ourselves to be ignored like a Christmas goose?”
“Colleagues do excellent work”
In the fall, North Rhine-Westphalia Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) tried to implement far-reaching changes in the Cologne public prosecutor’s office, which were met with widespread criticism and were seen as disempowering Brorhilker. Limbach had argued that it was not about that, but about relief and acceleration so that the numerous pending proceedings do not expire. The minister finally gave up his plan.
The reason for her departure was not this dispute, Brorhilker told WDR: “I was very surprised by the plans to split up my main department. At the time, I didn’t see it as the support it was intended to be.” In the meantime there have been good discussions and the ministry has created four more positions. “In Cologne they are on the right track,” said Brorhilker.
She doesn’t see the danger that the investigation could come to a standstill if she leaves. “Four departments have been founded with four department heads. That’s why we are well positioned and I think my colleagues are doing an excellent job. If you continue to support them, things will continue to go well. I have the feeling that law enforcement is really in in good hands,” she said.