Court halts trial on cum-ex case involving Olearius
For the past three-quarters of a year, banker Olearius has been undergoing trial at the Bonn Regional Court for tax evasion through Cum-Ex transactions. However, due to his deteriorating health condition, the trial has been temporarily halted, exempting him from paying millions in fines for now.
The legal proceedings against former CEO of M.M.Warburg's Hamburg Private Bank, Christian Olearius, at the Bonn Regional Court have been terminated. The presiding judge, Marion Slota-Haaf, announced the verdict. The termination came about due to Olearius's advanced age and declining health. The trial, which commenced in September 2023, was asked for an early termination by both the prosecution and the defense. With the termination ruling, the issue of his guilt remains unresolved. Olearius previously asserted his innocence before the judgment in court, deeming the prosecution's accusations baseless.
Investors manipulated the system to receive reimbursed taxes through Cum-Ex transactions, wherein stocks with and without dividend claims were exchanged in a complex and fickle manner. The state endured a massive multi-billion euro loss as a result. The height of these transactions was between 2006 and 2011. In 2021, the Federal Court of Justice deemed Cum-Ex transactions a criminal offense. The prosecution alleged Olearius was involved in 15 grave instances of tax evasion, leading to a loss of approximately 280 million euros. It is claimed that he failed in two cases. A revision against the termination ruling is possible, but it is unlikely.
Since 2020, there have been eight guilty verdicts in Cum-Ex cases at the Bonn Regional Court, with more proceedings anticipated in the forthcoming years. In this recently terminated trial, the head of a financial institution faced the first Cum-Ex accusations. Olearius was previously the CEO of Warburg-Privatbank and later its supervisory board chairman, but he is now just a shareholder. Olearius is currently absolved from paying the state 43 million euros as damages in the interim. The prosecution proposed a seizure order, aiming to dissociate the criminal proceedings from the main proceedings. However, the court declined this proposal in the previous week, as the investigators had not yet completed their investigations for this purpose.
Links to Scholz
The prosecution may still proceed with this later and then instigate a separate seizure order process. In this scenario, it would be about the money rather than the guilt question. Olearius will not be required to appear in court again. According to his representative, he paid 230 million euros to the state together with his co-shareholder Max Warburg in 2020 due to Cum-Ex. Olearius is one of the most prominent Cum-Ex players. His actions also sparked a political storm. It was revealed from his diary entries that he had three meetings with Olaf Scholz, the later German Chancellor, in 2016 and 2017, when he was still the First Mayor of Hamburg.
The specific details of the Scholz-Olearius meetings remain unclear. However, it is known that the Financial Authority issued a tax demand afterwards, and the claims expired based on the then legal framework. It has not been established that a causal connection existed between the Scholz-Olearius meetings and the Authority's decision. Scholz denies any influence, but when questioned about the exact content of the talks, he refers to lapses in memory.
Read also:
- The ongoing investigation into tax fraud involving Cum-Ex transactions and several banking executives, including Olearius, is a part of Bonn's larger efforts to address affairs and scandals related to these complex financial processes.
- The termination of the trial against Olearius has raised questions about justice in the case of Cum-Ex transactions, as it leaves his guilt unresolved and allows him to avoid paying millions in fines due to his health conditions.
- The cumulative impact of Cum-Ex transactions, including tax evasion and fraud, such as the case against Olearius, has been a major catalyst for criminal proceedings and the reevaluation of processes in the financial sector, resulting in several high-profile convictions and changes in regulations.
