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After Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz had already answered questions about the cum-ex scandal in Hamburg in the Bundestag finance committee in the morning, he now did so in the Bundestag as well.
Before Scholz himself took the microphone in the Bundestag, he had to hear fierce criticism, in particular from the left-wing MP Fabio de Masi, who accused him of speaking falsehood.
Scholz said he was happy to discuss the issue with such intensity. The cum-ex affair is “really outrageous” and he’s pretty sure what really happened will be clarified.
Regarding his own role in Hamburg, where as mayor he had met a co-owner of the Warburg Bank involved in the scandal, he said politicians with responsibilities meet with many in society. “The question is not whether we will meet, but whether we will be impressed and influenced,” Scholz said. “I mean I can be very stubborn.” There was no political influence in the decision of the Hamburg tax office, “neither from me nor from others. I am very, very sure of that,” Scholz said. As a member of parliament and as mayor, he has always stayed true to the questions about the bank fee and taxes.
As in the morning, Scholz emphasized that the tax offices in Germany must make their decisions independently and autonomously in accordance with the law. One should not give up in efforts to liquidate trade agreements and claim taxpayer money. Scholz also announced that the laws would be corrected to ensure the forfeiture of proceeds from these fraud cases even after a tax limitation period. “And to claim taxpayer money,” Scholz said.
On the finance committee, Scholz had allowed another meeting with the banker Christian Olearius. At the same time, behind closed doors, she had declared that she had no specific memory of him and obviously gave him little thought. The appointment was only reconstructed on the basis of the calendar records. This is what the meeting participants report. Until now only one meeting between Olearius and Scholz had been known.
Due to such possible meetings with the bank’s co-owner in 2016, when Scholz was Hamburg’s first mayor, the vice chancellor is currently under fire. At the time, there were investigations against Warburg Bank and Olearius on suspicion of serious tax evasion. The Hamburg tax authorities later prohibited the refund of one million dollars.
Green finance policy Lisa Paus had said after more than an hour and a half of questioning the minister in the commission: “It’s a general amnesia, you can’t remember anything.” CSU financial politician Hans Michelbach said the then-first mayor Scholz’s personal influence charge “has not been proven today at this meeting, but it has not been removed either.”
The Greens, the Left and the FDP argue against Scholz that he had not yet disclosed all the meetings with Warburg co-owner Olearius in 2016 and 2017. The meetings are explosive because the Hamburg tax authorities waived the € 47 million refund in 2016, which had previously been reimbursed to Warburg Bank as capital gains tax in connection with cum-ex arrangements. Until now, Scholz has always stated that he had no influence on this decision.
“We had a very good conversation”
After the committee meeting, Scholz did not address the allegations directly. “We had a very good conversation,” said the minister. Michelbach, a CSU politician, said he was very pleased that the statute of limitations was discontinued for all cum-ex deals. Scholz would thus correct a change in the law that his ministry had initiated with the second Corona tax aid law.
A new paragraph 375a has been inserted in the tax code. This should allow prosecutors to collect accumulated profits from banks and other parties involved after a conviction, even if the cases are already prescribed by law for tax purposes. However, in the same legislative package, this was provided with a restriction: the new provision should not apply to cases that were already prohibited by law for tax purposes on July 1, 2020. Many cum-ex cases were saved. This should be corrected now.
Left-wing politician Fabio De Masi was convinced that the Warburg scandal would not have been an issue on the committee for the last time. Scholz had “simply told the falsehood” in a previous meeting when he did not reveal this in response to questions about further meetings with Olearius.
