Lawyers begin their studies with many theories.

And so Anne Brorhilker, senior public prosecutor from Cologne, knows that there is a different teaching and perspective for every causal action and attribution.

However, the criminal prosecutor, who recently celebrated her 49th birthday, has long since put abstract theoretical disputes behind her.

For them, coordinating and accessing cum-ex investigations is far more fulfilling.

When the now 30 public prosecutors in her department arrive, together with officials from the state criminal investigation offices and IT specialists from banks, law firms and, as in the case of Hamburg, from the financial administration, Brorhilker is usually on site.

The prominence and the high cost of such actions are of course due to the largest tax evasion scandal in German post-war history,

Marcus Young

Editor in Business.

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The career of the native of Westphalia, which lasted almost 20 years, had long since pointed in a different direction.

Fraud in social security contributions in the construction industry shaped her day-to-day work in the authorities.

By chance, she came across a letter from the whistleblower Eckart Seith in 2013: the Stuttgart lawyer advised drugstore king Erwin Müller, who felt cheated by the Swiss bank Sarasin in stock transactions.

Seith warned the German authorities about Cum-ex.

Brorhilker delved into the criminal constructs of private banks, stockbrokers, short sellers and top corporate law firms - and to this day deals exclusively with cum-ex crimes.

One could say that the petite woman is the face of the state in the fight against organized tax evasion in Germany.

And that the allegations of possible political influence on the Hamburg financial administration would in all probability never have been dealt with without the energetic prosecutor.

Brorhilker already announced last year what she thinks of the passive handling of the tax authorities with the Hamburg private bank MM Warburg.

"I only know from the scaffolding that bogus invoices are written from private bank to private bank," she said as a witness before the investigative committee.

In doing so, she underpinned her doubts about the events in autumn 2016. Only a few weeks ago, her authority brought charges against the Warburg banker Christian Olearius.

The mail searches in the immediate vicinity of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which have now become known, also go back to the main department head from Cologne.

All of this makes it clear: Anne Brorhilker is far from having reached the end of her journey.