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Cum-ex suspect Paul Mora has become one of Europe’s most-wanted fugitives after refusing to travel from New Zealand to Germany to face tax fraud charges linked to €113 million in suspected illegal withholding tax claims.
Mora has been sought by German authorities since 2017 concerning an alleged cum-ex trading framework devised and executed during his time at HypoVereinsbank (now part of UniCredit) in London between 2006 and 2008.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and argues any dividend arbitrage activities were not explicitly outlawed in Germany and were supported by legal opinions.
Mora, a Kiwi native, was meant to face charges around the same time as two former colleagues that appeared in a Bonn court last year but said he was unable to travel to Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a defence he has maintained since.
The Wiesbaden Regional Court has since admitted Mora to the prosecutor's office in Frankfurt am Main, where an arrest warrant was filed against him for “particularly serious tax evasion” and a public manhunt initiated.
After the latest attempt to bring Mora to Europe failed, German authorities escalated the matter to Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, which today issued a red notice and added him to its list of ‘Europe’s most wanted fugitives’.
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has simultaneously issued a red notice for Mora related to tax fraud charges.
A red notice is an international wanted person notice not an arrest warrant and Interpol cannot force New Zealand’s law enforcement authorities to arrest Mora.
The EU and New Zealand also do not have an extradition agreement in place.
Europol stated in its listing that there is “probable cause” Mora in his capacity as the bank’s division head, “planned and executed cum-ex transactions” resulting in a refund of the withholding tax on capital investments worth more than €113 million, “even though no corresponding tax had actually been withheld”.
Europol adds that Mora allegedly concealed the true background of the transactions with the help of a deception system.
The agency highlights that Mora was aided by a lawyer understood to be Hanno Berger, German tax auditor turned cum-ex legal mastermind, who is also facing tax fraud charges.
Berger is similarly residing in Switzerland and claims his ill-health and the on-going pandemic make it impossible for him to attend a hearing in Germany. His case was recently delayed again from January to March.
Now read: Cum-ex in 2021.
After EU authorities were stymied from pursuing investigations into the 600-odd people so far named in connection to what Ali Kazimi, a tax advisor with Hansuke Consultancy, describes as “the crime of the century” this year is predicted to bring a frenzy of litigation.
