Eurojust has supported the authorities in the Netherlands and Finland with a coordinated operation against dividend fraud and tax evasion. During an action day, two suspects were arrested in the Netherlands and Finland, who are allegedly involved in so-called ‘Cum-Cum’ and ‘Cum-Ex’ fraud. Eurojust assisted with organising the action day and helped set up a joint investigation team (JIT) between Finland, the Netherlands and Germany.
The suspects allegedly defrauded the Finnish and Dutch tax authorities of at least EUR 17 million by wrongfully reclaiming dividend tax via a Cum-Cum scheme. Moreover, the suspects are investigated for defrauding the German tax authorities by reclaiming dividend tax via Cum-Ex transactions. Schemes such as Cum-Cum and Cum-Ex use complex trading structures to commit tax fraud and focus on moving company shares around dividend payment dates.
These shares are placed for a short period around the dividend payment day with another party, for instance a foreign bank, with a more advantageous tax position. Via complex structures, tax can be wrongfully claimed back by the perpetrators of the scheme, while keeping the risks of the transactions with the banks or companies to which the shares have been temporarily moved.
The scheme, which was set up by the suspects arrested today, used banks or other partners in Canada and Dubai to commit the tax fraud with dividend payments. Across the board, similar schemes defraud tax authorities in the European Union of billions of euros each year.
Eurojust not only assisted in setting up the JIT, but also organised three coordination meetings to prepare for the action day in the Netherlands and Finland with the involvement of the German authorities, who provided information. During the action day, a total of four places were searched.
The operation was carried out on the ground by:
- The Netherlands: National Functional Prosecution Service: Investigative Service for Financial and Tax Crime
- Finland: National Bureau of Investigation; National Prosection Authority – Prosecution District of Southern Finland; Finnish Tax Authority
- Germany: Public Prosecutor’s Office Cologne; Tax Investigation Office Düsseldorf: Federal Central Tax Office
Source: Eurojust
