28/03/23

EUROPE: Five Banks Raided in France.

As published on finews.com, Tuesday 28 March, 2023.

French and German tax investigators are searching banks in Paris in relation to tax evasion and money laundering.

The French tax prosecutor's office ordered five French banks to be searched Tuesday on allegations of tax evasion and money laundering in connection with dividend payments in so-called cum-cum transactions, as «Bloomberg» reported.

Around 150 French tax investigators are involved in the operation, looking into Societe Generale, HSBC, BNP Paribas and Natixis, according to the report. The fifth institution has not been named.

The involved parties in cum cum transactions credit themselves with refunds on taxes that they never paid.

In Germany, the proceedings surrounding the cum-ex and cum-cum transactions are among the country's biggest tax scandals. The tax loophole, which caused billions in damages, was closed in 2012. The German supreme court classified these practices as a criminal offense in a landmark ruling in 2021.