With an introduction by
Prof. Dr. Stefan Braum, Luxembourg
One of the most complex economic criminal proceedings of recent times has recently begun at Bonn Regional Court (Landgericht Bonn). Two managers are accused of having obtained tax advantages for themselves and their clients through a differentiated and complicated construction by receiving tax refunds on dividends that were never paid out on presentation of appropriate certificates. These Cum-Ex deals raise practical as well as criminal policy and legal issues to be presented and discussed at the event. The speaker Stefan Kirsch is defender of one of the main accused in the Cum Ex trial and will discuss this from Inside perspective of the criminal defense. It will not only be a matter of illuminating the tax grey areas of the case, but also of critically questioning the role and function of criminal law in this respect.
In view of the recent searches of public prosecutors in Cologne and Luxembourg, the case is also of great importance for Luxembourg. After the presentation we want to discuss with the audience.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Kirsch enjoys an excellent reputation in advising and defending companies and individuals in all areas of economic and financial criminal law. In addition, he has more than twenty years of experience in revision and international criminal law. He has appeared in three cases as a defender before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague and in another case before the Rwanda Criminal Court (ICC) in Arusha. In addition to the classic areas of economic criminal law such as fraud, breach of trust and corruption, his areas of practice include complex proceedings in a wide variety of areas of secondary criminal law. Prof. Dr. Kirsch is an honorary professor at the J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and a member of the European Committee of the Federal Bar Association and the Criminal Law Committee of the German Bar Association. He has worked several times as an expert in projects for the Human Rights Institute (HRI) of the International Bar Association and the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) and is a member of the advisory board of the « International Criminal Law Review ».