After a search in the ministry: Scholz defends customs special unit FIU

Finance Minister Scholz has emphasized that he has expanded the customs special unit FIU and positioned it better. Nevertheless, the opposition criticizes him: he has “an institutional share of responsibility for this financial scandal”.

Against the background of investigations against the customs special unit FIU (Finance Intelligence Unit), SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz has emphasized that as finance minister he has expanded the authority and positioned it better. “I took over an authority with around 160 employees and made sure that it has grown to almost 500 today,” Scholz told journalists in Worms. “It will continue to grow, to over 700.”

Scholz added: “We have provided a new management structure, we have ensured that a modern IT is created there, and we have ensured with several legislative proposals that the FIU receives the necessary competencies with all other authorities (… ) To query data in order to view them together with the data that we enter here. ” This is the basis for “that we can fight money laundering, terrorist financing, all of these things better with a well-positioned authority”.

“Institutional co-responsibility”

Meanwhile, the opposition continues to put pressure: Green parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter attested Scholz an “institutional co-responsibility in this new financial scandal”, as he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “We now need a comprehensive explanation of the processes.” He also criticized Germany as a money laundering paradise across Europe. “The problems at the FIU have been known for many years. Experts, the police and international organizations have repeatedly warned. Olaf Scholz has not managed to put an end to the continued failure of the authorities in his area of ​​responsibility in four years.”

The Greens, the FDP and the Left had previously announced that they would request a special meeting of the Finance Committee: “We would like to invite Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who has overall political responsibility for the ongoing grievances at the FIU, to take a stand and to contribute to the comprehensive clarification of the events.” , declared the chairmen Lisa Paus (Greens), Stefan Liebich (Left) and Markus Herbrand (FDP).

Suspicion of thwarting punishment in office

In investigations against those responsible at the FIU, a money laundering central office of the customs, the Osnabrück public prosecutor had the Federal Ministry of Finance and Justice searched on Thursday. Since last year, the public prosecutors have been investigating a suspicion that the FIU has thwarted punishment in office. The central office, which is part of the Ministry of Finance, is said to have not passed on information from banks about money laundering to the police and the judiciary.