Cum Ex Affair
Scholz denies political influence at Warburg Bank
View of the Warburg Bank entrance in Hamburg. After Olaf Scholz met with the bank shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg, the tax authorities initially let a tax claim against the bank worth millions lapse. photo
© Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa
Chancellor Scholz is caught up again by his past as mayor of Hamburg. Next week he has to testify again before the committee of inquiry into the Cum-Ex affair. He insists he did nothing wrong.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) continues to deny any responsibility in the tax affair involving the Hamburg Warburg Bank. “There is no evidence that there was any political influence,” said Scholz in Berlin. “I am sure that this realization will not be changed.”
A week before he was questioned again by the investigative committee of the Hamburg Parliament, the chancellor emphasized: “He also collected all the taxes that the state demanded.” The background is the so-called cum-ex scandal, in which financial players were refunded taxes they had never paid by moving blocks of shares. The committee wants to clarify possible influence of leading SPD politicians on tax decisions in Hamburg. It is also about the role of Scholz in his time as mayor. He is scheduled to testify again next Friday.
After meetings with the bank shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg in 2016 and 2017 in Scholz’s office at the time, the tax authorities had initially allowed a tax reclaim of 47 million euros against the bank to expire. A further 43 million euros were only requested after the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Finance. Later, the bank had to pay back more than 176 million euros of wrongly refunded taxes due to a court order.
Scholz: Don’t count among the people “who do something like that”
When a journalist claimed that the bankers were allowed to keep “stolen” money after a meeting with Scholz, the chancellor contradicted with unusual energy: “You would not be able to substantiate this factual claim if you had to,” said Scholz with a warning undertone. “Consider that when you say something like that.” He repeatedly rejected the allegations against himself: “You can rest assured that I’m not one of the people who do something like that.”
The controversial meetings are said to have been initiated by the then SPD member of the Bundestag Johannes Kahrs. According to members of the Hamburg investigative committee, investigation files show that more than 200,000 euros in cash were found in a Kahrs safe deposit box.
When asked what he knew about the money, Scholz replied on Thursday: “Nothing”. He also did not comment on the possible origin of the money: “I have no idea – I assume you know that better than I do.” In addition, the Chancellor stated that he is currently not in contact with Kahrs. Without giving an exact date, Scholz said the last phone call must have been “forever” ago.
Allegations against today’s Mayor Tschentscher
In the meantime, the former Finance Senator Wolfgang Peiner (CDU) raised allegations against the current Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) before the Hamburg investigative committee. As the Finance Senator at the time, Tschentscher should not have forwarded a letter from the Warburg Bank to the tax authorities in 2016, Peiner said. “This is the beginning of an influence when something is fed into the tax apparatus via the finance senator.”
SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil, on the other hand, is confident that Scholz can clear up all allegations. “I’m sure there was no political influence,” said Klingbeil in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. “And that will also show the Chancellor’s testimony before the committee of inquiry.”