In light of calls for his resignation and the many voices asking for answers to open questions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to appear before the Hamburg Parliament’s “Cum-Ex” committee for the second time today. As a witness, he is expected to help clarify the issue whether he or other leading SPD politicians influenced the fiscal treatment of Warburg Bank involved in the “Cum-Ex” scandal. Scholz denies this.
The chancellor’s second appearance was originally planned as the conclusion of the parliamentary commission of inquiry. The release of the results of the investigation by the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the Warburg Bank’s “Cum-Ex” transactions, and press reports on previously kept secret minutes of a 2020 Scholz statement before the Finance Committee of the Bundestag , however, have given rise to many new questions.
The CDU and the Citizenship Left now want to expand the investigation and invite Scholz for a third time. CDU chairman on the committee, Richard Seelmaecker, called for the resignation of Scholz and his successor as mayor, Peter Tschentscher. The federal chancellor received support from his finance minister, Christian Lindner, who expressed his “full confidence” in him in the “Rheinische Post”.