German Bank Gets $16 Million Fine in Danish Dividend Fraud Case

(Bloomberg) -- North Channel Bank of Germany has received a 110 million-krone ($16 million) fine in the first verdict to be passed in Denmark as the country investigates a vast dividend tax scandal.

The bank was found guilty of aiding other parties in defrauding Denmark of 1.1 billion kroner, the Copenhagen-based State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime said in a statement on Monday.

Danish authorities estimate the country was defrauded of about $2 billion in 2012-2015 as banks helped investors claim dividend tax rebates to which they weren’t entitled. Nordea Bank Abp said last week it received a claim from the Danish government demanding that it pay back roughly 900 million kroner in unearned dividend tax rebates that went to an investor.

“It’s very satisfying that we have now obtained the first decision in the courts of the dividend cases where the Danish state was tricked into paying dividend tax rebates,” Attorney General Kirsten Dyrman said in the statement. “Overall, this is the largest fraud case in Danish history, which has caused a great loss to society and the treasury.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, North Channel Bank earned 55 million kroner in fees on the transactions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net

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