The public prosecutor's office in Bonn has suspended the confiscation of around 176 million euros from the Warburg Bank announced in connection with "Cum-Ex" transactions.

A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said on Friday that the financial institution had claimed that it had already made these payments to the Hamburg tax office as part of the tax procedure.

This is now being clarified by the Bonn Regional Court.

With the confiscation, the first legally binding judgment of the Bonn Regional Court in the “Cum-Ex” affair should be implemented.

In the judgment confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in July 2021, the bank was obliged to repay more than 176 million euros.

A bank spokesman stressed that the bank had already done so.

"With the repayments made by Warburg to the tax office in Hamburg (in the tax proceedings), the taxes set by the tax office for the so-called cum-ex share transactions of the Warburg Bank for the years 2007 to 2011 have been fully settled." Several public prosecutor's offices and courts nationwide have been investigating since years to clear up one of the biggest tax scandals in German post-war history.

Last year, the federal court ruled that "cum-ex" deals were a criminal offense.

Fegebank demands clarification

Hamburg's second mayor Katharina Fegebank (Greens) would also like more clarification in the cum-ex scandal surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank.

In the summer interview of NDR 90.3 and the Hamburg Journal, Fegebank asked the former SPD politician Johannes Kahrs to comment on the origin of the 214,800 euros in cash in his safe deposit box.

“First of all, 200,000 euros in a locker is not forbidden.

But I think Mr. Kahrs would do well to actually provide information about the origin of the money in order to have clarity,” said Fegebank.

There are still only guesses about the money.

According to members of the Hamburg investigative committee, investigation files show that more than 200,000 euros in cash were found in a Kahrs safe deposit box.

The Cologne public prosecutor's office is investigating Kahrs for encouraging tax evasion in connection with Warburg Bank's "cum-ex" transactions.

Fegebank said of Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD), who was Finance Senator at the time: "He made it very clear that purely legal reasons were decisive for the statute of limitations on the repayments by Warburg Bank and I trust his word." The Cum-Ex investigation is now entirely in the hands of the investigative committee.

The committee is to clarify possible influence of leading SPD politicians on the tax treatment of the Warburg Bank.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is to testify again before the committee on Friday next week.

In "cum-ex" deals, investors used a loophole in the law to cheat the German state out of money for years.

Around the dividend record date, several participants pushed shares with ("cum") and without ("ex") dividend rights back and forth.

As a result, tax offices reimbursed capital gains taxes that had not been paid at all.

The state suffered billions in damage.

In 2012 the tax loophole was closed.