About 150 investigators from the financial prosecutor’s office raided the banking institutions and proceeded to search the five banks
Five large banks are investigated by financial prosecutor of France in the context of a case related to tax fraud and money laundering.
About 150 investigators from the financial prosecutor’s office raided the banking institutions and searched the five banks.
According to an announcement, the investigation concerns banks located in Paris and in the La Defense neighborhood, reports Bloomberg. These are HSBC Holdings Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Société Générale SA and Natixis.
Representatives for BNP, HSBC and Natixis did not make a statement. A SocGen spokesman confirmed the bank is being investigated.
The raids are related to a dividend arbitrage strategy, known as “cum-cum”, where shareholders transferred shares for a short period to investors based abroad to avoid dividend tax. Investors held the shares during the period the dividends were paid which were either not taxed or tax refunded. They then sold the securities back to the original shareholders, and the amount saved was shared between the parties involved.
The French investigation, which the prosecutor said has been in the works for months, involves 16 local judges, more than 150 investigators and six prosecutors from Cologne.
Source: Skai
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