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Deutsche Bank co-CEO denies tax fraud charges

Deutsche Bank's co-chief executive Jürgen Fitschen said he saw no reason to resign over allegations of suspected tax fraud, insisting he is innocent in newspaper interviews Friday.

Deutsche Bank co-CEO denies tax fraud charges
Photo: DPA

“I’m shattered over the accusations against me. I firmly believe they will prove to be groundless,” Fitschen told the mass-circulation daily Bild. “I feel I am being unjustly treated and will defend myself.”

Asked whether he would resign over the allegations, Fitschen said, “I see no reason to.”

Fitschen made similar remarks in a different interview published in the business daily Handelsblatt.

Prosecutors and tax police raided the offices of Deutsche Bank Wednesday in a probe dating back to 2010, and Germany’s biggest lender said both Fitschen and its finance chief Stefan Krause were also being investigated.

Deutsche Bank employees are suspected of destroying documents related to the case, and investigators also say certain essential emails have been kept from them, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. The bank denies the claims.

Four Deutsche Bank workers have been taken into custody, while a fifth suspect has been spared for health reasons.

The allegations date back to early 2010 and concern suspected tax fraud in connection with trading in carbon emissions certificates.

Fitschen and Krause are under investigation because they signed off the bank’s 2009 valued-added tax (VAT) declaration. He told both newspapers that he felt the prosecutors’ reaction was “totally exaggerated.”

“As soon as we realised that we’d been duped by fraudulent clients, we corrected the tax declaration. At no point was any tax money unlawfully paid to Deutsche Bank,” he said.

Fitschen has been a member of Deutsche Bank’s management board since 2009 and took over as co-chief executive, alongside Anshu Jain, earlier this year.

Prosecutors said a total 25 Deutsche Bank employees were being investigated and arrest warrants had been issued for five suspects on suspicion of money laundering and perverting the course of justice.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the suspects evaded hundreds of millions of euros in tax.

In December 2011, six businessmen – three British citizens, two Germans and one Frenchman – were sentenced to between three and seven years in prison for not paying taxes from trading in carbon emission certificates.

The Local/AFP/bk

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Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark’s employment allowance?

Denmark's government may soon announce changes to its tax reform plans, which will give all wage earners a bigger employment allowance. What is this and how will it affect foreigners' earnings?

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance? 

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes. 

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner. 

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal? 

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment  allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner. 

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen? 

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance. 

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement. 

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.  

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