Cum-Ex affair: Olaf Scholz testifies in the investigative committee

On Friday, Olaf Scholz had to answer questions, namely in the Hamburg Parliament. It was again about his role in the so-called Cum-Ex affair – at that time Scholz was the first mayor of the Hanseatic city. The investigative committee asks itself the following questions: Did politicians ensure in 2016 and 2017 that a 47 million tax debt from the Warburg Bank was not collected? Who influenced the decision-makers of the tax authorities and how? Were officials ordered to go easy on the bank? The opposition in the Hanseatic city led by the SPD and the Greens sees opportunities to prove Scholz’s misconduct. The chancellor has so far pointed out that the committee of inquiry has found no evidence of political influence in 2.5 years of work. He cannot remember the conversations with the head of the Warburg Bank. Richard Seelmaecker from the CDU said before the committee meeting began: “That’s out of the question. He has an excellent memory. He’s a file eater, he can still tell you today how the suspension in the Elbphilharmonie looks and works. He remembers all of these things. And he doesn’t want to recall three meetings where the existential importance of the bank was at stake.In addition, there was an inconsistency in statements regarding the meeting with colleagues in the Bundestag in July 2020, if I understand correctly what has now been published in the press is. Then I say to myself, there are contradictions in it.” The Cum-Ex affair is about a fraud scheme in which those involved had the state reimburse them for unpaid capital gains taxes. The head of the NGO Finanzwende, Gerhard Schick, estimates the damage to taxpayers at more than ten billion euros. In addition to Scholz, his successor as First Mayor Peter Tschentscher is also being targeted by the investigators, because he was Finance Senator in Hamburg at the time.