It was one of those documents that afforded a rare glimpse behind the scenes of power. Christian Olearius, once at the head of Hamburg’s Warburg Bank, noted in his diary how he had met several times in 2016 and 2017 with the then Mayor of Hamburg and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It was about what has now entered history as a cum-ex scandal: the traditional money house feared having to repay the tax office more than 100 million euros in capital gains tax that had been unlawfully refunded. And therefore went to the politicians to prevent this. The Southgerman newspaper quoted verbatim from the diary on September 4, 2020, but Olearius obtained an injunction from the Hamburg judiciary. But now the ban is out of the world: The Federal Court of Justice has it Süddeutsche Zeitung fully justified this Tuesday. Verbatim quotations from the notes may be reproduced.
BGH: Süddeutsche Zeitung may publish diary quotes in cum-ex reports – media
