Billions of euros in a tax scandal and the chancellor…doesn’t remember what he talked about with the bankers

Olaf Schultz served as mayor of Hamburg until 2018. During his tenure, the famous tax scandal occurred. Operations were about trading stocks on the date of the dividend to get a refund for multiple taxes that had not already been paid.

Warburg Bank was to return 47 million euros to the Hamburg treasury, but after the meeting of the then mayor of HamburgOlaf Schultz with contributors – Christian Olearius and Max Warburg, The tax office found that the request for reimbursement was time-barred. The bank returned another 43 million euros a year later, shortly before the statute of limitations, on the recommendation of Germany’s finance minister.

The potential impact of Schulz on the local tax office is being investigated by an investigative committee of the Hamburg City Council. Today – the current German chancellor emphasized – he does not remember the details of the conversations with the bankers during the meetings that took place three times in 2016-2017.

“I had no influence on Warburg Bank’s tax actions”

– Scholz provides. And as words of encouragement, he added that He was always aware that tax evasion is not a “petty crime”.

The opposition does not believe that there are gaps in memory

The first questioning of the German chancellor on this issue took place in April of last year. Then the head of the German government confirmed that the meetings took place, but, like today, he could not remember the details of the talks.

“Unfortunately, I must say clearly: I do not believe a single word of the Chancellor.”

– Christian Democratic Union President Friedrich Merz told the daily “Handelsblatt”. In turn, the head of the Parliamentary Club of the Left Party, Dietmar Barch, sees the holes in the chancellor’s memory as questionable.

Source: dw.com, niezalezna.pl