CumEx: As if rich people are allowed to steal money

Last month, while the German government was hard at work cutting tens of billions of euros from the budget, a court in Bonn announced that it was dropping charges against Christian Olearius. The 82-year-old banker, former head of the Warburg Bank in Hamburg, is accused of using a tax cheat to steal about 280 million euros. Due to health problems, he will not stand trial.

Olearius is one of the best-known figures in the strangely named CumEx scandal. For years, stock traders developed a complex scam where they would pay capital gains tax once and then get it refunded several times. In this way, they stole an estimated 31 billion euros from public coffers. So far, 20 people have been convicted, while 1.700 people are accused of fraud in the case. However, as the statute of limitations expires after 15 years, many of them will probably be able to bide their time.

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Red Flag is a column on Berlin politics by Nathaniel Flakin. It appeared in Exberliner magazine from 2020 to 2023 and found a new home at the Berlin newspaper nd – as their first content in English. If you like a regular dose of very local communist content, please share. Nathaniel is also the author of the anticapitalist guide book Revolutionary Berlin.

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Olearius's case was special because German chancellor Olaf Scholz would likely have been called as a witness. Back in 2016-17, when he was mayor of Hamburg, Scholz met with the banker several times. During the same period, Hamburg’s tax office decided to waive 47 million euros owed by Warburg Bank. Using the old Ronald Reagan defense, Scholz claimed to have no memories of the meetings, and his press spokesperson made untrue statements. It seems like years-long delays allowed Olearius to get away with his actions in the end – and Scholz got off the hook as well.

This is just the latest example of Germany's absurd culture of corruption. Somehow, the country is seen as a Saubermann, even though politicians rarely face consequences for taking bribes. According to the NGO »Transparency International Germany«, Germany must take better criminal action against cases of bribery of members of parliament.

As I write this, the government's austerity program is wreaking havoc on a country that already suffers from long-term underinvestment. You can see yourself if you attempt to take a train or use a bathroom at a public school. Looking at empty public coffers, it's even more scandalous that rich people barely face charges for cheating themselves even richer by taking 31 billion euros from public coffers. As if they are allowed to steal money.

In May, Anne Brorhilker announced that she was resigning as the lead prosecutor for the CumEx scandal. She had to face the fact that there is simply no political will to pursue these cases.

Furthermore, millionaires in Germany pay about 24-26 percent of their income in taxes, whereas average citizens have to cough up 43 percent. If billionaires paid the same taxes as you or I, Germany could propably afford sufficient staff in hospitals and day care centers – with more than enough left over to provide affordable housing and free public transport to everyone.