Switzerland grants extradition of German tax fraud suspect

The Swiss government has allowed the extradition to Germany of Hanno Berger, a German national accused of playing a key role in a years-long tax fraud, the justice ministry said on Friday.

Berger was arrested on a German warrant last month in Switzerland, where he had been living in exile.

His Swiss lawyers declined to comment on whether he would appeal against the decision.

Berger, 70, faces trial on allegations that he and other suspects used complex offshore shell companies to get undeserved tax rebates worth 391 million euros ($461 million).

The scandal, known as "cum-ex", is Germany's biggest post-war fraud involving a share-trading scheme that the authorities say cost taxpayers billions of euros.

According to the prosecutors, the scheme was promoted by Berger, a German tax inspector-turned-tax adviser, and others. Berger is a defendant in a case that is being tried in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt.

Berger, who is a lawyer and helped represent himself, has always denied any wrongdoing and said what he did was within the law.

The scheme involved trading stocks of major companies rapidly around a syndicate of banks, investors and hedge funds to give the impression of numerous owners, each entitled to a bogus tax rebate.

It thrived between 2005 and 2012, a period that included the years after a financial crash and as banks were bailed out by the state. A loophole that fostered the trades was then closed.