"Shows that there are nerves in the finance minister"

World "Shows that there are nerves in the finance minister" 24 min. ago | Raid: Investigations around money laundering: public prosecutor's office... Two weeks before the election, SPD candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz is coming under pressure after a raid on the Ministry of Finance in connection with investigations into the customs special unit FIU. The Greens, FDP and Left Party have requested a special meeting of the Finance Committee. Scholz should contribute there before the election to the "comprehensive clarification of the events", explained the Obleute Lisa Paus (Greens), Stefan Liebich (Left) and Markus Herbrand (FDP) on Friday to the German Press Agency. Especially Union politicians attacked Scholz for how he had reacted to the search in his ministry. Regarding the request for a special session of the Finance Committee, a corresponding letter from the responsible parliamentary management will be forwarded to the President of the Bundestag in a timely manner, explained the Obleute of the Greens, FDP and Left. The current events surrounding the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the searches in the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice in this context are the reason for this. The integrity of the fight against money laundering in Germany was in danger of being called into question, and with it an important part of the fight against organized crime and terrorism. This requires prompt action and a referral to the committee before the Bundestag elections on September 26, it said: "We would like to invite Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who bears overall political responsibility for the ongoing abuses at the FIU, to take a stand here and contribute to a comprehensive clarification of the events." During investigations against responsible persons of the FIU, a money laundering special unit of the customs, the public prosecutor's office Osnabrück had the Federal Ministry of Finance and Justice searched on Thursday. In the process, documents were also seized, according to the public prosecutor's office. Prosecutors have been investigating a suspicion of obstruction of justice in office by the FIU since last year. The central office, which is part of the Finance Ministry, is alleged to have failed to pass on tips from banks about money laundering to the police and judiciary. Statements by Scholz caused massive criticism. He had told the WELT news channel that the investigations were directed against unknown employees in Cologne. In this context, questions to the two ministries had arisen. These "could have been put in writing," Scholz said. He continued: "Now they have been asked in a different way. Everyone may evaluate that for themselves." "Shows that there with Scholz the nerves are bare". FDP finance politician Florian Toncar told the dpa news agency, "Scholz's criticism of the search at the Ministry of Finance is completely out of line. It only shows that there the nerves are bare with the Minister of Finance. No public prosecutor is allowed to search a house just like that." He would have to get the search approved by an independent judge. Toncar said he could very well understand why the public prosecutor's office searched the Finance Ministry. "Already in the Wirecard case, the Ministry of Finance has just not fully cooperated." In April, Scholz had denied any responsibility for the accounting scandal surrounding the former Dax company Wirecard as a witness in the Bundestag's investigative committee. The opposition saw errors primarily at the financial supervisory authority Bafin, for which the Ministry of Finance is responsible. Union chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU) said Friday of Scholz's remarks after the raid: "When your own ministry is searched, telling the public prosecutor's office what it would have done better, you usually only know from populist states." CSU leader Markus Söder said at the CSU party conference in Nuremberg that the impression was created that the federal finance minister was almost offended that the public prosecutor's office was doing its job. Scholz said on Friday on the sidelines of a meeting of finance and economy ministers of the euro countries in Slovenia, referring to the prosecutor's office, that there is good cooperation, as it should be: "Even if you just report, it would work. Now there is cooperation in this way." Habeck calls for complete clarification Söder also called for more comprehensive parliamentary investigations into the so-called Cum-Ex affair. He said there were "countless questions, no answers." This "whole complex" deserved to be investigated by parliament in exactly the same way as the toll - there was a committee of inquiry in the Bundestag into the car toll debacle. Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) was the target there.