Today at 2 p.m. the committee of inquiry to investigate the largest tax fraud in the Federal Republic will meet. Olaf Scholz, the former mayor of Hamburg, is invited as a witness. It comes down to the three central questions.
1. What did Scholz know and did he have any political influence on the Warburg Bank’s tax exemption?
2. What happened at those meetings with Christian Olearius that Scholz only remembers in fragments so far?
3. And is there a connection between the preferential treatment for Warburg and the then state bank HSH-Nordbank, which was involved in cum-ex transactions to a much larger extent?
The investigative journalist and author Oliver Schröm, once editor-in-chief of Correctiv, was one of the first to report on the cum-ex deals. He wrote the book “Die Cum-Ex-Files” (published October 2021) and together with Oliver Hollenstein “The Scholz Files: the Chancellor, the money and the power”, which will be published on October 11th. He eagerly awaits the committee of inquiry:
“Last time (before the committee of inquiry of the Bundestag d.R.) Olaf Scholz said ‘I can’t remember’ almost 40 times. I don’t think he’s going to get away with that method this time.”
Schröm explains in detail why, after the first time-barred tax refund of 47 million euros for Warburg, Hamburg finally reclaimed the second tax refund of 43 million euros:
“There was an instruction from the Federal Ministry of Finance. This is a very sharp, unusual sword. The Hamburgers fought back, but ultimately got the money back. The official who issued the instruction was promoted to early retirement a few months after Olaf Scholz became Federal Minister of Finance.”
Schröm sees a clear connection between the three admitted meetings with the Warburg Bank and the statute-barred tax refund, against which Hamburg has done nothing:
“The tax reclaims came to the Warburg Bank table. The two owners then met Olaf Scholz twice within a few weeks. Olaf Scholz proactively called Olearius a few days later and said send this document to the then Finance Senator Peter Tschentscher. A few days later, the tax reclaims were off the table.”
His accusation against Scholz: “He constantly cheated, deceived and maybe lied.”
Schröm reports defamation against him from the Chancellery – due to his persistent investigations, which have now lasted for years and are annoying for those involved. I want to know who he feels defamed by?
“From Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt”
Gabor Steingart is one of the best-known journalists in the country. He publishes the newsletter The Pioneer Briefing. The podcast of the same name is Germany’s leading daily podcast for politics and business. Since May 2020, Steingart has been working with his editorial staff on the ship “The Pioneer One”. Before founding Media Pioneer, Steingart was, among other things, CEO of the Handelsblatt Media Group. You can subscribe to his free newsletter here.