Bundestag
Union wants U-committee on the Warburg-Bank tax scandal
View of the Warburgbank entrance in Hamburg. photo
© Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa
Investigations have been ongoing for years as to whether Olaf Scholz had any influence on the case of the Warburg Bank, which was involved in the “Cum-Ex” scandal. Now the Bundestag is to set up a committee of inquiry.
The Union wants to set up a committee of inquiry in the Bundestag to deal with the tax scandal surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank. This was announced by parliamentary group leader Mathias Middelberg (CDU) on Tuesday in Berlin.
The committee is to clarify whether political influence was exerted on the tax case during Olaf Scholz’ (SPD) period as Hamburg mayor and whether billions in recoveries should be waived against the bank. It should also be checked whether the gaps in memory that the Chancellor relies on in this context are credible.
The background is Scholz’s meetings with the bank shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg in 2016 and 2017. After the first meeting, the Hamburg tax authorities had not raised an originally planned reclaim of 47 million euros in December 2016 because of unjustly refunded capital gains taxes to the bank and let it run into the statute of limitations first. A second claim for a further 43 million euros was raised at the end of 2017 shortly before the statute of limitations on the instructions of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
According to a court ruling, the bank finally settled all outstanding tax reclaims in 2020, but is still trying to get the money back through legal channels.
Citing gaps in memory
In his two previous interrogations before an investigative committee of the Hamburg Parliament, Scholz admitted that the meetings took place, but referred to gaps in memory with regard to the content of the discussions. He always rejected the suspicion of political influence. In two and a half years of activity, the Hamburg investigative committee has not yet provided any evidence of influence.
The Union faction also wants to clarify whether Scholz could still remember a meeting with the bankers during his interviews in the Bundestag Finance Committee on the “Cum-Ex” case in July 2020 and how the gaps in memory can then be explained a few months later.
The CDU and CSU alone have at least a quarter of the votes required to convene a committee of inquiry. The left is examining support, said its financial policy spokesman Christian Görke. “One thing is clear: the contradictions and open questions must be clarified. A committee of inquiry seems necessary, since the current Chancellor continues to refuse to face the questions in the Bundestag’s finance committee.”
In the case of “cum-ex” transactions, blocks of shares were shifted back and forth by several participants around the dividend record date with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) a right to a dividend. As a result, tax offices reimbursed capital gains taxes that had not been paid at all. The state suffered billions in damage.