The anti-corruption organization Transparency International is demanding that the SPD politician Johannes Kahrs disclose the origin of the approximately 214,000 euros in cash that were discovered in a safe deposit box at the Hamburger Sparkasse.
“Johannes Kahrs must immediately provide answers to the many open questions,” said Transparency Germany Chairman Hartmut Bäumer to the Tagesspiegel. “Both with a view to the origin of the 214,000 euros in his locker and to political agreements about Cum-Ex,” emphasized Bäumer.
“Kahrs has repeatedly attracted attention in the past through his political commitment to the Warburg Bank, which bordered on lobbying. He also has to explain the donations that the SPD Hamburg or the Hamburg-Mitte district association received from Johannes Kahrs from the Warburg-Bank and from their environment.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (both SPD) are also responsible for “contributing to clarification,” Bäumer emphasized to the Tagesspiegel.
Such a sum of money in itself is not illegal. The responsible Cologne public prosecutor’s office emphasized on Monday, without giving details, that during a search as part of the Cum-Ex investigations in Hamburg, “no amounts of cash found” had been seized.
The “Bild” newspaper reported at the weekend that over 200,000 euros in cash had been found in a bank safe deposit box on the former member of the Bundestag Kahrs last year. The Cologne public prosecutor’s office has not yet commented on the details.
The journalist Oliver Schröm, who was able to see the relevant documents, told the Tagesspiegel that the information was correct. “It was specifically 214,800 euros and then another 2,400 US dollars that were found in the locker.” During a house search at Kahrs, a rental agreement for a locker at the Hamburger Sparkasse was found, and then the investigating judge obtained a search warrant for it and that Locker opened on September 28, 2021, Schröm said.
The search took place two days after the Bundestag elections, which the SPD had narrowly won. Scholz’s spokesman emphasizes that the chancellor was not aware of a possible higher sum of cash in the possession of former member of the Bundestag Kahrs. He can rule that out, said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on Monday in Berlin
The budget expert Kahrs resigned from his post at the beginning of May 2020 and withdrew from federal and state politics. He is being investigated for aiding and abetting tax evasion, and he is accused of having exerted influence on behalf of the private bank, despite the millions he had wrongly collected.
In cum-ex transactions, blocks of shares were pushed back and forth around the dividend date in such a way that taxes could be refunded several times, i.e. the state was cheated. A committee of inquiry in Hamburg is currently trying to clarify whether, during Scholz’s time as Hamburg’s first mayor, leading SPD politicians influenced tax decisions at the Warburg Bank, which was involved in the cum-ex scandal, whether they deliberately imposed back taxes in the double-digit million range has been waived. Scholz is scheduled to testify there a second time on August 19.
Kahrs himself has not yet responded to a daily mirror request. According to the authorities, the experienced networker and long-time head of the Seeheimer Kreis is considered a possible key political figure in the affair. So far, however, there is no evidence that the cash find could be related to the Cum-Ex affair about the Warburg Bank.
Kahrs also arranged for Scholz to meet with the bank’s shareholders, Christian Olearius and Max Warburg. After these meetings, Hamburg waived the repayment of 47 million euros at the end of 2016.
A further 43 million euros were only requested in 2017 after intervention by the Federal Ministry of Finance, which was then led by Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU). Finance Senator in the Hanseatic city at the time was Peter Tschentscher, who later succeeded Scholz in the office of First Mayor.
Scholz says he can no longer remember the content of the meetings, but has always denied any influence. The investigative journalist Oliver Schröm, who knows the investigative documents for the locker find, told the Tagesspiegel: “It will be very uncomfortable for Scholz because there will be more revelations and the investigative committee is only really picking up speed now.” He announced further explosive findings in a book that will be published in October and suggests that Scholz is lying.
The Chancellor can no longer pull himself out of the affair by sitting out. Scholz must ask Kahrs to prove the origin of the money,” said CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja to the Tagesspiegel also the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Mathias Middelberg.
But the SPD also demanded clarification. Erik von Malottki, member of the Bundestag, tweeted: “The discovery of 200,000 euros in Johannes Kahrs’ locker is very worrying. Kahrs should explain to the public and the SPD why he stores such a large amount of cash. I lack the imagination that there is a legally sound justification for this.”
The affair led to several meetings between the then First Mayor Scholz and the bank’s shareholders, Christian Olearius and Max Warburg, in 2016 and 2017. Scholz repeatedly says that he can no longer remember the content of the meetings. At that time, investigations were already underway against Olearius on suspicion of serious tax evasion.
After the first meeting, the tax office initially waived additional tax claims in the amount of 47 million euros when the statute of limitations expired in 2016 – political leaders vehemently denied any influence.
As described, another 43 million euros were only requested in 2017 after intervention by the Federal Ministry of Finance, then led by Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) – such an instruction to a federal state is extremely rare.
“Against the background of this massively condensed chain of evidence, not only Mr. Kahrs, but also Mr. Tschentscher and Mr. Scholz must now disclose all facts that could somehow be related to the Cum Ex fraud,” Mathias Middelberg told the Tagesspiegel. “Mr. Kahrs in particular now has to completely clarify the origin of the 200,000 euros. Otherwise, it must be assumed that these funds have a dark background.”
The former left-wing politician Fabio de Masi, who continues to deal intensively with the case, told the Tagesspiegel: “The locker is explosive for the Chancellor”. Keeping over 200,000 euros in cash in a safe deposit box can only have one reason. “Apparently Kahrs didn’t want an electronic data trail on his account.”
The financial expert emphasized that it had to be clarified, for example, whether the Social Democrats had received money from the Warburg Bank that did not appear in the books alongside the known party donations. There are many unanswered questions, also for Scholz, says de Masi and says: “This affair has the potential to overthrow the chancellor.”
The SPD leadership has so far not wanted to comment on request, the Chancellery initially left an inquiry as to whether Scholz asked Kahrs to explain the origin of the money unanswered. A government spokesman finally only answered: “The Federal Chancellor has made detailed statements on this matter” – this probably referred to the earlier statements in the Warburg case, but the question of the new revelations was not addressed.
In view of the numerous publications and proceedings, the shareholders of the Hamburger Warburg Bank, Max Warburg and Christian Olearius, feel that their human rights have been violated and are therefore taking them to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The court, which is based in Strasbourg, has accepted a corresponding “individual complaint” from Olearius and Warburg “for the main examination”, the lawyer for the two, Peter Gauweiler, announced last week. A spokesman for the court confirmed when asked that Olearius and Warburg “have filed an application against Germany and that the proceedings are currently pending”.
