Senior public prosecutor Tim Engel will be the new chief investigator in Cologne for the Cum-Ex tax fraud cases involving stock transactions. This was announced by the North Rhine-Westphalian Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens). Engel will be the successor to Anne Brorhilker, who recently unexpectedly resigned.
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Minister Limbach said that the 50-year-old Engel, like his predecessor, was the head of the department for economic crime at the Cologne public prosecutor’s office. Brorhilker will train him for a month until she leaves.
Limbach continued that Engel had already dealt intensively with the cum-ex tax fraud in the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia. There he was responsible for the area of white-collar criminal law between January 2020 and February 2023.
Brorhilker criticizes the processing
After her resignation, Brorhilker criticized the political handling of the tax scandal. She is not satisfied with how financial crime is prosecuted in Germany. Tax theft has not stopped by a long shot; there are cum-ex successor models, said Brorhilker.
The public prosecutor spoke out in favor of a central, nationwide authority to combat financial crime. In the future, Brorhilker wants to work as managing director of the non-governmental organization Citizens’ Movement Financial Transition in the fight against financial crime.
It is estimated that the Cum-Ex fraud involving illegal stock deals defrauded the German state of a double-digit billion sum. Papers with (cum) and without (ex) dividend claims were moved back and forth between financial players in a short period of time. The tax authorities unknowingly reimbursed banks, stock traders and consultants with capital gains taxes that had not even been paid.
Senior public prosecutor Tim Engel will be the new chief investigator in Cologne for the Cum-Ex tax fraud cases involving stock transactions. This was announced by the North Rhine-Westphalian Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens). Engel will be the successor to Anne Brorhilker, who recently unexpectedly resigned.
Minister Limbach said that the 50-year-old Engel, like his predecessor, was the head of the department for economic crime at the Cologne public prosecutor’s office. Brorhilker will train him for a month until she leaves.