At the end of the week, Chancellor Scholz has to testify again before the U-Committee, which wants to clarify the circumstances of the cum-ex scandal surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank. Party colleague Peter Tschentscher considers it understandable that Scholz does not want to be able to remember many things.
Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher has shown understanding for the memory gaps expressed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in front of the "Cum-Ex" investigative committee. The meetings with the shareholders of the Warburg Bank involved in the "Cum-Ex" scandal were years ago, "you can't remember all the details of the talks," Tschentscher told the "Bild" newspaper.
The background is Scholz's meetings with Warburg Bank shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg in 2016 and 2017. At the time, Olearius was already being investigated for tax evasion in connection with "Cum-Ex" transactions.
After the first two meetings, the Hamburg tax office for large companies let the reclaim of 47 million euros of unjustly refunded taxes from the bank run into the statute of limitations. A year later, 43 million euros were only reclaimed after the Federal Ministry of Finance intervened shortly before the statute of limitations expired.
An investigative committee of the Hamburg Parliament is now to clarify whether leading SPD politicians have influenced the tax case. Scholz had confirmed the meetings during his first hearing before the committee last year, but said nothing about the content of the talks because he couldn't remember. However, he ruled out any influence.
Tschentscher, then finance senator in the Hanseatic city, also rejected the allegations as unfounded. Scholz is to be questioned again by the investigative committee on Friday. "He will testify again truthfully," Tschentscher told the "Bild".
