Before the committee of inquiry into the Cum-Ex scandal in Hamburg, Olaf Scholz again rejected any influence. “There was nothing”insists the Federal Chancellor.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) answered questions from the committee of inquiry into the Warburg Bank scandal in Hamburg – and once again rejected all allegations.
“I had no influence on the Warburg tax procedure”, said Scholz on Friday at the beginning of his witness questioning. The Chancellor spoke of “assumptions and assumptions”that would be directed against him. The opposition in Hamburg and in the federal government meanwhile expressed massive doubts about Scholz’s credibility.
Olaf Scholz: “No influence from politics”
Scholz expressly contradicted the central suspicion that the investigative committee in Hamburg has been trying to clear up for two and a half years – namely that the Warburg Bank should be protected by political intervention from having to pay a fine of millions because of the Cum-Ex scandal. scholz was the first mayor of the Hanseatic city at the time in question.
“The tax procedure was not influenced by politics”Scholz clarified. “There was no such influence”he said – and added: “There was nothing.” Scholz thus stuck to his earlier statements on the matter without any reservations; for him it was already the second testimony before the Hamburg committee.
The allegations were based on assumptions and these were “wrong and are obviously not supported by anything or anyone”said Scholz. Scholz emphasized that he had no detailed knowledge of the tax procedure in question in the financial administration when he was mayor and finance minister.
Opposition in Hamburg is dissatisfied
Three of Scholz’s meetings with Warburg Bank representatives in 2016 and 2017 were also discussed in the witness questioning. These meetings fueled the suspicion that the then mayor and the bankers might have colluded to protect the bank.
Scholz vehemently contradicted this suspicion on Friday. “There is not even the slightest hint anywhere”that something had been agreed, he said. That could not be, he always behaves “correctly”. He has “neither before nor after the meeting influenced the decisions of the Hamburg tax authorities”he said.
Scholz stressed that the city of Hamburg “no financial damage in this matter” had arisen. Warburg later paid the amounts reclaimed.
The opposition in the Hamburg committee was dissatisfied with Scholz’s statements at the meeting. The left representative Norbert Hackbusch criticized Scholz’ initial statement as “a bit presumptuous”. Hackbusch told the Chancellor that Scholz was making a final assessment of the committee’s work, which he was not entitled to do.
Scholz mostly calmly answered the questions of the deputies in the Hamburg Parliament’s meeting room. Occasionally, however, he showed displeasure: Scholz put one under a CDU MP “subtle remark”elsewhere he said: “It makes no sense for us to speculate here together.”
Criticism for Chancellor – but also backing
Even before the statement, the opposition in the federal government expressed doubts about the chancellor’s credibility in the matter. “Unfortunately, I have to say it so clearly: I don’t believe a word the chancellor says”said CDU leader Friedrich Merz “Handelsblatt”. “In Germany, there is hardly anyone who believes in Olaf Scholz’s many memory gaps.”
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch asked Scholz for clarification. “We need clarity instead of questionable memory gaps”he told the Funke newspapers.
Scholz received support from Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). “The Chancellor has our full confidence”said Lindner “Rheinische Post”. “At all times – whether in the opposition or now in the government – I have perceived Olaf Scholz as a person of integrity and there is no reason to doubt that.”
Source: Stern
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