In view of the latest revelations in the “Cum-Ex” scandal, the CDU opposition wants to expand the investigation mandate of the parliamentary investigative committee in the Hamburg Parliament.
“There are increasing indications that the “negligence” of the financial administration under the responsibility of the then Finance Senator Peter Tschentscher not only included cum-ex but also cum-cum transactions and other abusive stock transactions,” said parliamentary group leader Dennis Thering on Tuesday.
In addition, it can be assumed that other Hamburg credit institutions are involved, in particular the former HSH Nordbank and today’s Hamburger Commercial Bank.
So far, the committee of inquiry only wants to clarify whether leading SPD members have influenced the tax case at the Hamburg Warburg Bank. The background is meetings between bank shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg in 2016 and 2017 with the then mayor and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which the then member of the Bundestag Johannes Kahrs and the former Senator for the Interior Alfons Pawelczyk (all SPD) are said to have arranged.
At the time, Olearius was already being investigated on suspicion of serious tax evasion.
After the first meeting, the tax authorities had changed their minds and had a tax reclaim of 47 million euros against the bank statute-barred. A further 43 million euros were only claimed in 2017 after the Federal Ministry of Finance intervened shortly before the statute of limitations expired.
As a result of a court order, the bank ultimately had to repay more than EUR 176 million in unjustly refunded taxes. On the other hand, she continues to take legal action.
At its 35th meeting on Tuesday, the committee wanted to hear four former employees of the tax authority as witnesses, including the former head of the tax administration and the department head previously responsible for the Warburg Bank involved in the scandal.
The CDU and the left wanted to suspend the committee meetings this week and the next in order to be able to study the investigation files sent by the Cologne public prosecutor. However, the government factions of the SPD and the Greens reject this. Chancellor Scholz is invited on August 19th.
Thering justifies the demand for an extension of the investigation mandate with the latest findings from the Cologne public prosecutor’s office, whose files have only been available to the committee since the end of last week.
According to information from the CDU and the Left Party, they show, among other things, that a search in a safe deposit box belonging to the former Hamburg member of the Bundestag Kahrs – he is being investigated in connection with the “Cum-Ex” transactions of the Warburg Bank on suspicion of favoritism – more than 200,000 euros in cash were found.
