Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has drawn the first conclusions in the affair surrounding the appearance of department head Gerda Hofmann at a law firm conference. As the Southgerman newspaper learned on Friday that the long-time civil servant will be transferred internally. In the future, she will no longer be head of the department that deals with inheritance and property tax, among other things, but in the same position will take care of the cooperation with the independent product information center for retirement provision (Pia). Pia, based in Kaiserslautern, is responsible for the opportunity-risk classification of all state-funded retirement provision products on behalf of the ministry.
Hofmann was broadcasting the ZDF documentary in mid-December Billionaire Game: The Secret World of the Super Rich was suspected of having given tax-saving tips for wealthy citizens at the conference of the large law firm that specializes in aggressive tax planning. Whether that was actually the case and whether the ministerial councilor even revealed official secrets at the event, as critics accuse her, is still questionable. The ministry nevertheless initiated an official procedure because Hofmann had not had her appearance as a guest speaker approved, contrary to the ministry’s internal regulations.
According to a report by the news magazine The mirror However, the current transfer should have nothing to do with the ongoing legal procedure. Rather, Lindner wanted to take the officer “out of the line of fire” as part of his duty of care for all of the company’s employees. This corresponds to information from the SZ. At times there was also a criminal complaint lodged against Hofmann with the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, the proceedings were discontinued.
Hofmann’s appearance at the conference was also described as “unfortunate” within the federal government, especially since the ministerial councilor left a quite chummy impression at the event. She is said to have said that the lawyers and their clients do not have to worry about the planned removal of a property transfer tax reduction and that they can continue to “sleep peacefully” in the future. The problem can be solved, “we have toolboxes, at least I have a lot,” said the official, whose voice is reproduced in the ZDF documentary.
But Hofmann apparently didn’t share any secrets at the conference, nor did she give any tax-saving tips. Rather, she spoke about what publicly known changes are planned to the so-called law to modernize partnership law. Another argument against the cronyism thesis is that Hofmann is seen within the government as a leftist who would like to tax wealthy citizens higher instead of providing them with instructions on how to avoid taxes.
Even members of the opposition therefore supported the official. “Before you destroy people in this way, you should first clarify the facts,” said the financial policy spokeswoman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Antje Tillmann, in December. So far there is no evidence that Hofmann has done anything illegal.