(In the first sentence of the third paragraph it should read Millions rpt Millions.)
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The Union sees many open questions about the role of today’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the political processing of the tax scandal surrounding the Hamburg Warburg Bank. There are many contradictions and inconsistencies, said Matthias Hauer, chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the finance committee, on Tuesday in Berlin.
The traffic light coalition repeatedly prevented Scholz from being summoned to the finance committee, which the Union had requested, said Hauer. A committee of inquiry in the Bundestag is inevitable. Scholz himself should have the greatest interest in making a clean sweep. It’s about his credibility.
The investigative committee is to clarify whether political influence was exerted on the tax case during Scholz’s time as Hamburg mayor and whether claims against the bank in the millions should be waived. It should also be checked whether the gaps in memory that the Chancellor relies on in this context are credible. The background is Scholz’s meetings with bank shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg in 2016 and 2017.
The CDU member of the Bundestag Franziska Hoppermann said that a committee of inquiry in the Bundestag had completely different options for the depth of investigation than the committee of inquiry of the Hamburg Parliament. Group Vice Mathias Middelberg (CDU) said that the affair was also about the implementation of federal law.
In a letter from the leadership of the parliamentary group, it is said that the decision by the Hamburg authorities at the time regarding the non-refund of tax refunds that were wrongly received not only affected the uniform enforcement of federal law, but also very specifically the tax revenue of the federal government./hoe/fi/DP/mis