Swiss approve extradition of key figure in German “cum-ex” tax fraud case
Hanno Berger is a defendant in a tax evasion court case in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt, that opened in March 2021. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Keystone / Boris Roessler
The Swiss government has approved the extradition of Hanno Berger, a German lawyer sought in a major tax evasion case.
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The Federal Office of Justice confirmed on Friday that it had issued an order on August 20 for the extradition of the German lawyer. The development was reported earlier by DPA news agency and Handelsblatt.
Berger, who was arrested in Switzerland last month, has been indicted in Germany on charges of tax evasion in connection with the so-called “cum-ex” scheme. The scandal is Germany’s biggest post-war fraud involving a share-trading scheme that the authorities say cost taxpayers billions of euros.
Berger is accused of promoting the scheme and helping investment bankers who swapped shares to collect multiple reimbursement for taxes they had only paid once.
He was arrested on July 7 in Switzerland, where he has been living in exile. Berger is a defendant in a court case in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt, that opened in March.
The German lawyer has always denied any wrongdoing in conversations with Reuters and said what he did was within the law.
The extradition decision can be appealed to Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Tribunal within 30 days.
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