Macquarie employees that are involved in tax dividend scandals are facing German criminal allegations

(Bloomberg) -The German prosecutor is preparing to put forward the first criminal allegations to the CUM-EX tax scandal of Macquarie Group LTD., which shows that officials are stepping up for several years.

According to people familiar with the matter, the Cologne Prosecutor plans to accuse several bankers working in the bank before the transaction in 2012. McGolvy had previously stated that as many as 100 people in the survey were rolled away.

A spokesman for Prosecutor Cologne confirmed that they planned to issue a new prosecution, but refused to disclose the name or bank of the bank involved. McGust refuses to comment.

CUM-EX is a controversial trading strategy to obtain repetitive refunds by using dividend tax collection. Germany stopped this approach in 2012 and is currently investigating about 1,800 suspects from the global financial industry. More than 20 people were convicted in German courts for participating in Cum-EX.

The investment banker of the McGli London office is the core of the Cum-EX transaction. It has been the goal of prosecutors for many years. Under the influence of the scandal, the bank has solved two independence issues involving German dividend transactions from 2006 to 2009. As part of the agreement, the bank paid 100 million euros ($ 105 million) to the German authorities.

The number of suspects related to Macquarie in the German Cum-EX survey continued to increase. In 2018, Macquari said that about 30 employees became the target of attack. In 2020, the bank disclosed that the number had climbed to 100 people, and most of them no longer worked in Macquarie. In the company’s report in 2024, the bank reiterated the number and added that the lenders had prepared for financial risks outside the case.

According to German law, the company cannot be charged with crimes, but prosecutors can use relevant litigation procedures to list them as parties to criminal cases. In 2018, Volkswagen reached a settlement with the prosecutor on the diesel scandal, with a compensation amount of 1 billion euros. Investigators were aimed at this.

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