Despite high‑profile tax scandals such as Cum‑Ex and Cum‑Cum, criminals from Germany’s financial sector still frequently escape punishment. Former chief prosecutor Anne Brorhilker told the “Tagesspiegel” that this is due to a “fatal power imbalance”. She argues that other methods keep such illegal deals functioning to this day.
Brorhilker led the investigation into the Cum‑Ex scheme, in which bankers, lawyers and other market players enriched themselves at public expense by illegally arranging share deals. They repeatedly received refunds of capital‑gain taxes they had never actually paid. The total damage is estimated at about €12 billion. After leaving the public prosecution service she has been heading the financial NGO “Finanzwende” since 2024.
In Brorhilker’s view, the administration remains plagued by structural weaknesses that hand the criminals an advantage. On one hand, the bureaucracy is poorly organised and suffering from numerous systemic problems – even the biggest players inside the system are afraid to confront the issue. On the other hand, the financial sector is highly resourceful; it can not only generate significant resistance in individual cases but also influence politics unimpededly to protect its interests.
She pointed out that more than 500 lobbyists representing banks and insurers are registered in the Bundestag’s lobby register. The Bundestag’s finance committee has 42 members, meaning each member is, on average, surrounded by over ten lobbyists from the financial sector-a point she sharply criticised.
Brorhilker is calling for a structural reform of the administration to tackle large‑scale tax fraud. She advocates establishing a specialised, central authority at the federal level where knowledge is pooled and investigations are coordinated. This small, powerful, interdisciplinary unit would review applications for capital‑gain tax refunds and investigate cases of tax evasion and money laundering, thereby restoring the balance of power.