FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - In the billion-dollar tax scandal surrounding cum-ex stock deals, experts are urging a quicker process. "We are in the year eleven after such deals were stopped, and despite more than 1,500 defendants, the accused can be counted on a few hands," criticized Gerhard Schick, board member at the citizens' movement Finanzwende. The Cum-Ex clarification had proceeded for years at a snail's pace, "because many preferred to sweep the issue under the carpet". He said he expects the process of coming to terms with the matter to accelerate in the new year. "The Federal Supreme Court has confirmed the first-instance verdicts, which strengthens the prosecutors."

"The previous verdicts are just the tip of the iceberg," says Christoph Spengel, a business administration professor and cum-ex expert at the University of Mannheim. To be sure, he says, the criminal justice process is well underway. "But the big names like Deutsche Bank are not there yet." The personnel capacities in the judiciary are still too small, Spengel criticized.

Investigations into cum-ex deals are in full swing. Prosecutors have identified more than 1500 defendants. First trials ended with prison sentences for ex-bankers.

In cum-ex deals, banks and other participants used a loophole to have unpaid capital gains taxes refunded by the state. They shifted shares with ("cum") and without ("ex") dividend entitlement back and forth in packages around the dividend record date.

This practice was put a stop to by a change in the law effective from 2012. In 2021, the Federal Court of Justice clarified that cum-ex transactions are to be regarded as tax evasion. The tax damage in Germany is estimated at around 10 billion euros. If cum-cum transactions are added to this, the treasury has lost around 36 billion euros, according to Spengel's calculations. In cum-cum transactions, securities held by foreign shareholders were lent over the dividend record date to partners in Germany, who then had capital gains tax refunded./als/DP/zb