After finding cash: Scholz is under pressure in the Hamburg tax affair

The tax affair surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank is threatening to develop into a veritable political scandal, in which Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also coming under increasing pressure.

After finding cash: Scholz is under pressure in the Hamburg tax affair

The tax affair surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank is threatening to develop into a veritable political scandal, in which Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also coming under increasing pressure. In the coming week, the SPD politician wants to testify again before the Hamburg investigative committee on the "Cum-Ex" scandal, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit confirmed on Monday. Opposition politicians demand: Scholz must also comment on the discovery of large amounts of cash from one of his SPD comrades.

According to the left chairman Norbert Hackbusch, the investigation files available to the committee members show that more than 200,000 euros in cash were found in a locker belonging to the former SPD member of the Bundestag Johannes Kahrs. The "Bild" newspaper reported about it first. Kahrs has not yet been available for comment.

According to the responsible Cologne public prosecutor's office, "no cash amounts found" were secured. In general, this only works if there is a concrete suspicion that money comes from a criminal offense - and if it is expected that it will later be confiscated by the court. Law enforcement did not say if cash was found.

Cash find at least dubious

One thing is certain: it is not illegal to hoard so much cash. But observers of the Hamburg tax affair consider the Kahrs case to be at least dubious. Former left-wing member of the Bundestag Fabio De Masi wrote on Twitter: "Either Kahrs proves the origin of the money or he invokes his right to remain silent because of the Cum-Ex investigations against him." In the latter case, De Masi concluded, it stands to reason that the money was linked to the cum-ex case "and the chancellor has a problem too."

Scholz himself did not know anything about a possible larger cash sum at Kahrs, his spokesman emphasized. He can rule that out. Nevertheless, the chancellor will once again have to take care of his Hamburg past.

Because the investigative committee of the citizenship is trying to clarify whether there was political influence on tax decisions when Scholz was the first mayor of the Hanseatic city. Shortly after Scholz and the co-owner of Warburg Bank, Christian Olearius, met, the tax authorities initially waived tax reclaims in the tens of millions. Later, the bank had to pay back more than 176 million euros in unjustly refunded taxes due to a court order.

Warburg Bank involved in "Cum-Ex" scandal

The Warburg Bank was involved in the so-called "Cum-Ex" scandal. Financial players shifted blocks of shares around the dividend date in a complicated system in such a way that they were reimbursed for taxes they had never paid.

At his first hearing before the committee in April 2021, Scholz denied any political interference in the case. However, he could no longer remember the talks with the shareholders of the bank. Kahrs is being investigated on suspicion of favoritism. In September his apartment was searched and - as has now become known through the files - the locker was also found.

Although there is no connection to the bank with the money found, said Linken chairman Hackbusch. From Olearius' diaries and interviews in the committee, however, one knows "that Mr. Kahrs carried out many activities in connection with Mr. Olearius, knowing that he was already being investigated on suspicion of serious tax evasion".

As a member of the Bundestag in Berlin, Kahrs was considered an accomplished string puller. As spokesman for his parliamentary group in the powerful Budget Committee, he regularly channeled public funds into his Hamburg constituency. After he failed in the race for the office of military commissioner, the spokesman for the more conservative SPD current Seeheimer Kreis resigned from all political offices.

According to Olearius' diaries, Kahrs was also the one who initiated the banker's meetings with Scholz in 2016 and 2017 and established the contact. The find of cash put this commitment in a new light, said Hackbusch. "Why else should one have undertaken such activities in favor of a then already well-known tax robber?"

Scholz asked for clarification

The committee chairman of the CDU, Richard Seelmaecker, also addresses donations that flowed from the bank's environment to the SPD. In 2017, affiliated companies from the Warburg Group donated a total of 38,000 euros to Kahr's SPD district center. 7500 euros went directly from the bank to the SPD regional association. The question now arises as to whether further payments were made in addition to those already known, said Seelmaecker.

All in all, there are increasing numbers of indications that "key SPD politicians in Hamburg have unlawfully influenced the Warburg tax matter," said CDU member of the Bundestag Mathias Middelberg in the "Tagesspiegel". Hamburg's CDU leader Christoph Ploß demanded clarification from Scholz and the SPD at the federal level. "It is not at all clear where the Kahrs got the money from and to what extent the social democratic network in Hamburg benefited from these events," he told the "Spiegel".