Olaf Scholz: The Chancellor’s explosive solo number in the LNG deals

When Olaf Scholz arranges to meet on his own, it often threatens to end in a political affair. He already had the problem when he was mayor of Hamburg. Scholz is still stuck with his meetings with the two owners of the Warburg Bank today. The public prosecutor’s office was already investigating against the bankers because of crooked cum-ex stock transactions. The affair is now also occupying the Bundestag, and the Union is calling for a committee of inquiry.

As chancellor, Scholz also seems to be happy to pursue his penchant for dangerous solo numbers. In any case, on September 15, 2022, Scholz will visit the tax consultant Stephan Knabe in his constituency in Potsdam. Knabe and his business partner Ingo Wagner, a real estate manager from Bruchsal in Baden, wanted to get into the gas business a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

To do this, they founded the company Deutsche ReGas GmbH & Co. KGaA and, according to their own statements, collected 100 million euros from investors. Now they hope for big business. However, neither Knabe nor Wagner have any idea about the energy sector. They rely on the support of the federal government and Olaf Scholz.

Tax consultant Knabe and his partner charter the LNG terminal ship “Neptun” through a British company, a floating factory that processes liquid gas for power plants or boilers. With the help of the federal government, the “Neptun” is to dock in Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and contribute to Germany’s energy security.

Possibly a lucrative business for the two adventurers. A tempting offer for Scholz and the federal government. Gas has stopped flowing from Russia since the attack on Ukraine, and Germany is preparing for a cold winter. Scholz goes to the boy. Personally, he would like to convince himself of the seriousness of the tax consultant.

“Oh, I want to see if you’re real,” says Scholz. This is what Knabe later reported to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.

Four months later, the business idea becomes reality. In January of this year, Olaf Scholz will be flown to Lubmin by helicopter for the opening of the LNG terminal. The daily news reports. The television pictures show the chancellor turning on the gas tap. Next to him are boy and his partner.

The federal government is now planning the next LNG terminal together with the two soldiers of fortune. This time in Mukran on the island of Rügen. The plans are met with rejection from the neighboring municipality of Binz. The Baltic resort turns on a lawyer and files a complaint against the two entrepreneurs: suspicion of commercial money laundering. The background is reports that ReGas Managing Director Wagner operates an investment fund on the Cayman Island and the ReGas entrepreneurs strictly reject the allegations.

How Scholz evades control with tricks

In the meantime, the Union in the Bundestag is dealing with the personal meeting of Scholz and the soldier of fortune. It is not on the Chancellor’s official calendar. The reason: Scholz does not want to have met with Knabe as chancellor, but as a constituency representative from Potsdam. MPs are not obliged to disclose their appointments – unlike ministers and federal chancellors.

All of this seems suspicious to Member of the Bundestag Matthias Hauer (CDU). Why is the Chancellor meeting in his capacity as MP to personally verify the existence of an entrepreneur looking to invest in the lucrative gas market?

Hauer wants to know from the federal government whether Scholz has met one of the ReGas entrepreneurs more often or communicated in some other way. The answer lies with that star and “Business Insider” exclusively. Accordingly, there were no further meetings between Scholz and the soldiers of fortune beyond those already known. Hauer is certain: “Chancellor Scholz has made the project a top priority, but blindly trusts an industry newcomer that everything will run smoothly.”

There is something else that worries Hauer. “The answer to my individual question reveals the complete ignorance of the federal government as to where the immense financial resources of the company Deutsche ReGas for the expansion of the LNG structure in Germany come from,” he says.

Before the two-man company was entrusted with part of Germany’s energy supply, no one in the government apparently considered it necessary to have the background of the 100 million euro start-up capital checked. The Federal Government intends to carry out this examination in the near future: “With regard to the planned rental of the floating liquefied natural gas terminal (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit, FSRU) by the Federal Government to Deutsche ReGas, the Federal Government will, as part of its due diligence obligations, carry out detailed examinations of the suitability and reliability of the possible contractual partner,” says the answer. “To the legally possible and required extent, this also includes checking the financial capacity and the origin of the funds. It must be ensured that the financing of the energy infrastructure is based on sustainable financing.”

Another unknown meeting between Scholz and Knabe

Officially, Scholz claims to have met Knabe three times, once as a member of parliament and twice as chancellor at the opening of the LNG terminal in Lubmin and at a “discussion with stakeholders in the port of Mukran”, where the federal government together with the ReGas entrepreneurs another LNG terminal is planned.

research by star and “Business Insider” now show: Olaf Scholz and Stephan Knabe met before their appointment of September 15, 2022. According to a blog entry by Knabes, there was an appointment a year earlier, on May 15, 2021. The two are said to have met with “selected entrepreneurs” at the Dorint Hotel Potsdam as part of an election campaign. According to Knabe, there was also “an opportunity for a personal exchange in private”.

The Federal Press Office forwarded questions about this meeting to “Mr. Scholz’s office for reasons of responsibility”. As a member of parliament, Scholz left the question unanswered; as chancellor, he says he doesn’t have to answer it.

So far, the public has known little about the two adventurers in whose hands Olaf Scholz placed Germany’s energy security. While the origin of their EUR 100 million seed capital remains a mystery, documents show which banks Deutsche ReGas GmbH & Co. KGaA has its accounts with: at a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank in Luxembourg – and since September 1, 2022 also at the Hamburg private bank MM Warburg. As is well known, Olaf Scholz often met with the two owners on his own.