Three UK bankers face trial in Germany over tax scandal

Bloomberg

A German court paved the way for the trial of six people including three former London-based investment bankers for their role in the nation’s Cum-Ex tax scandal.
The ruling by a court in the city of Wiesbaden sets up a second trial in the country over the trading strategy that’s triggered multiple probes by German prosecutors involving about 500 suspects. Another case is being tried in Bonn and the court there has said that Cum-Ex trades were criminal.
The indictment in the Wiesbaden case focuses on a group of former bankers at UniCredit SpA’s HVB unit and Hanno Berger, once Germany’s most profitable tax attorney, according to a copy of the charges viewed by Bloomberg News. Prosecutors see Berger as the brains behind the tax strategy they say crossed the line to tax evasion.
Among the bankers charged are Martin Shields and Nicholas Diable who both are on trial in Bonn. In the Wiesbaden case, their former boss Paul Mora, a New Zealand native, is also being charged. The trio worked in London and allegedly set up the trades at HVB’s investment bank unit. The indictment targets also two Germans who worked at HVB. All have left the bank.
HVB, Berger as well as lawyers for Mora, Shields and Diable didn’t immediately reply to emails seeking comments. Berger has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying the strategy was legal, citing a 1999 ruling of Germany’s top tax court on taxation of dividend payments in short sales. The charges in the Wiesbaden case cover 61 short sales of shares of companies listed in Germany.