Scholz defends himself, but again cannot remember a lot of things

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Scholz defends himself, but again cannot remember a lot of things Julian Staib • 2 hours • 3 minutes reading time Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has defended his actions in the case of Warburg Bank and HSH Nordbank before the Hamburg Parliament's investigative committee on the Cum-Ex tax money affair, but has again claimed lapses in his memory in many places. The investigative committee is focusing on the question of whether the Hamburg Senate government under Scholz, as then mayor of Hamburg, influenced the tax authorities' decision to forego the repayment of 47 million euros from the Hamburg private bank Warburg. It is also questionable whether the Hamburg Senate under Scholz took sufficient action against illegal tax tricks by the formerly state-owned HSH Nordbank. In a short opening statement before the investigative committee on Friday, Scholz said that tax evasion and tax fraud such as Cum-Ex transactions are not minor offenses, but serious crimes. He himself had campaigned for a fair and solidarity-based tax system throughout his "entire political life". Methods such as Cum-Ex or Cum-Cum "must be consistently investigated and pursued". Scholz had several contacts with the bank's owners The Warburg Bank had long been involved in illegal Cum-Ex transactions. This enabled those involved to have a capital gains tax that had only been incurred once refunded several times. Scholz had several contacts with the bank's two majority owners. After that, the tax authorities decided not to demand the money. Scholz had been questioned about this in two previous appearances as a witness before the investigative committee, but in many of these he had claimed gaps in his memory. Now he said that the facts had been "comprehensively clarified". "There was no political influence in the Warburg case". The interim report of the investigative committee had reached a "clear conclusion" here. In an earlier appearance before the investigative committee, Scholz had answered the same question on the subject as he had answered around ten months earlier in the Bundestag's Finance Committee. It is therefore questionable whether Scholz had the minutes of the finance committee meeting, which was actually classified as secret at the time. When asked about this, Scholz replied: "I don't know." Could he remember a background discussion with journalists on the subject at the time? "Nope." Asked whether he had a copy of the minutes of the meeting at the time? "I don't know either." Scholz claims not to have made any mistakes Scholz also provided little concrete information on HSH Nordbank. The former state bank had also been conducting illegal cum-ex transactions for years, and the damage was immense. The bank paid back around 126 million euros to the tax authorities. But there were never any criminal investigations, and no fine was ever imposed. Why remains unclear. Scholz did not admit to making any mistakes here either. Even an employee of the bank at the time had expressed surprise before the investigative committee that no fine was imposed on the bank at the time. This was actually expected, said the employee. Scholz was now asked whether the possibility of a fine had been discussed with the bank. "I can't remember." Did he speak to the then Finance Senator Peter Tschentscher (SPD), who is now his successor as First Mayor, about the question of a possible fine? "I can't remember." The bank itself tried to clarify the matter, "I didn't look into the matter any further." At HSH Nordbank, the main issue was how to get out of the major economic problems that the bank had after a massive expansion, said Scholz. "The issue was always saving the bank and its situation." The main aim was to prevent damage to the citizens of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. HSH Nordbank is also said to have been involved in cum-cum transactions, which involved significantly more money. Shares were transferred back and forth between foreign countries and Germany in order to illegally get capital gains tax refunded. Here too, it is questionable whether the Hamburg Senate at the time took sufficient action against this. Scholz said on the subject that the bank was concerned with Cum-Ex and the rescue. The Cum-Cum issue had only "recently developed" at the time. According to the magazine "Stern", HSH Nordbank earned up to a quarter of a billion euros in taxpayers' money from Cum-Cum transactions between 2002 and 2012.* Against the backdrop of the "Panama Papers" revelations, Scholz is said to have asked Tschentscher at the time, according to "Stern", whether there were "connections to Hamburg", and that Tschentscher should also ask HSH Nordbank about this as a precautionary measure.