Germany: “No suspicion” against Scholz in the Cum-Ex scandal

“No suspicion” against Olaf Solz for the ‘Cum-Ex’ tax evasion scandalthe general prosecutor’s office in Hamburg, which dismissed a complaint against the federal chancellor in the case, does not find.

Hamburg’s public prosecutor’s office does not yet have any evidence of possible assistance from Olaf Scholz as mayor/governor of Hamburg during the disputed period in the Warburg Bank tax scandal, prosecutor Mia Sperling-Carstens told the Tagesspiegel newspaper, while a representative of the prosecution confirmed the information to the German Agency (dpa).

The relevant finding was issued on August 10.

Last February, lawyer Gerhard Strate filed a lawsuit against Olaf Soltz and Hamburg’s former finance minister and current mayor/governor, Peter Chencher, on suspicion of having contributed to tax evasion by the Warburg bank.

The attorney general’s office has now dismissed the lawsuit as unfounded, Tagesspiegel notes, as “there is insufficient factual evidence to suspect that the bank’s alleged tax evasion was promoted with the knowledge or intent of those responsible for the competent tax authorities in Hamburg.”

The tax office of Hamburg temporarily waived in 2016 the claim of taxes amounting to 47 million euros, and it remains a question whether this was done with the approval, or even on the initiative, of the political leadership of the state at the time.

The issue is also being dealt with by a special Investigative Committee of the local parliament, to which the chancellor is expected to testify on Friday. “There is no evidence that there was political influence, and I’m sure that won’t change,” Mr. Soltz said last week in reference to the case.

RES-EMP

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