banking scandal
Union demands clarification from Scholz in the Cum-Ex scandal
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) speaks at a press conference in Berlin. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
The Federal Chancellor is answering questions from journalists for the first time today at a summer press conference. For the opposition, it is clear why this should be the main thing.
The Union has asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to clarify the cum-ex scandal surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank at his summer press conference today, which occurred during his time as the first mayor of the Hanseatic city.
“Olaf Scholz has to explain himself,” said parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei (CDU) to the editorial network Germany (RND). “Scholz’s memory gaps” from meetings with bankers cannot be explained, he criticized. Now there is also the find of cash from former SPD MP Johannes Kahrs.
In the so-called cum-ex scandal, financial players moved blocks of shares around the dividend deadline in a complicated system in such a way that they were reimbursed for taxes they had never paid. Shortly after Scholz met a Warburg Bank co-owner, the Hamburg tax authorities initially waived tax reclaims in the tens of millions from the money house.
Later, the bank had to pay back more than 176 million euros of wrongly refunded taxes due to a court order. Scholz has denied any political influence in the case. His meetings are said to have been initiated by the then member of the Bundestag Kahrs.
According to members of the Hamburg Cum-Ex investigation committee, investigation files show that more than 200,000 euros in cash were found in a Kahrs locker. Kahrs has not yet been available for comment. Depositing such an amount of money in cash is not illegal.
Frei also demanded from Scholz “a clear commitment to the debt brake” and clarification on how it should be observed. In the discussion about a follow-up offer for the 9-euro ticket, he had to say who should pay for it and how local public transport could handle this volume of passengers.
Scholz is answering questions from the capital’s journalists for the first time at a summer press conference today. Questions on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues are usually asked on this occasion.