Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) claims responsibility for Ankara attack
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps: We are deploying RAF Typhoons to Poland
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps announces a 4 billion pound ($4.9 billion) deal to build attack submarines
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: We have waited 60 years at the doorstep of the European Union. We are no longer waiting.
Al Mayadeen correspondent: One civilian martyred, another injured by Saudi Arabia's armed forces in Saada, Yemen.
The Turkish authorities have banned media from broadcasting at the scene of an attempted terrorist attack that hit the capital near Parliament earlier.
An explosion and gunfire heard in Turkey’s capital Ankara near the parliament and the ministries.
US House 45-day stopgap funding bill with no aid for Ukraine gets enough votes.
Armenia quickly denied the allegations of killing an Azerbaijani soldier, saying the claim its forces had opened fire on Azerbaijani positions "does not correspond to reality".
Azerbaijan says a soldier was killed by a sniper on the Armenian border.

German oppostion files complaint over Scholz's tax fraud inquiry

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 7 Sep 2023 17:11
  • 1 Shares
  • x

Germany's CDU faction has lodged a complaint with the top court against the ruling coalition for rejecting their request to establish a special committee to investigate Chancellor Olaf Scholz's involvement in a tax fraud affair.

  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends the second day of the budget 2024 debate at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023 (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends the second day of the budget 2024 debate at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023 (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposition party has taken the initiative to file a complaint with the country's top court concerning Chancellor Olaf Scholz's handling of a tax fraud affair dating back to his time as mayor of Hamburg after the ruling coalition rejected their bid to establish a special committee tasked with investigating the matter, Sputnik reported. 

The CDU's complaint, as disclosed by German broadcaster ARD, centers on their argument that the government's refusal to allow a committee of inquiry to scrutinize Chancellor Scholz's meetings with executives from the embattled Warburg Bank in 2016 and 2017 represents a breach of federal parliamentarians' rights.

These committees of inquiry are typically formed through a motion supported by at least a quarter of all federal parliament members and are designed to investigate alleged mismanagement at the federal level. However, the coalition contends that the tax fraud scandal falls within the purview of Hamburg state authorities.

The controversy revolves around Hamburg-based Warburg Bank's alleged involvement in defrauding German taxpayers of millions of euros through the manipulation of tax refunds for share traders, a scheme commonly known as "cum-ex dividend."

Initially, Hamburg officials attempted to compel the bank to repay 47 million euros ($51 million) in tax refunds. However, these demands were later abandoned following reports of a purported meeting between then-Mayor Olaf Scholz and the bank's executives, with officials citing an expired statute of limitations as the reason.

Chancellor Scholz has maintained that he does not recall the specifics of what transpired during these meetings but can confirm their occurrence because they were duly recorded in his calendar. Nevertheless, multiple reports and leaked emails originating from his Hamburg office have raised doubts about the veracity of the calendar entries.

Related News

Bavaria leader refrains from dismissing 'antisemitic' deputy

CDU Chair warns of irreversible deindustrialization in Germany

Read more: Germany to give Kiev UAVs for aerial reconnaissance

In 2018, the media in Germany exposed the cum-ex scheme, which exploited a loophole in dividend payments to enable multiple returns of capital gains tax. One of the beneficiaries, the Hamburg-based Warburg Bank, was found to have misappropriated 47 million euros ($52 million) in 2009 through cum-ex deals.

Scholz, the former mayor and chairman of the then-ruling Social Democratic Party in Hamburg, allegedly had meetings with the bank's co-owners in 2016-2017 and advised them on avoiding refunds of the misappropriated funds. While Scholz admitted to meetings with Max Warburg and Christian Olearius, he claimed not to remember the content of their discussions.

However, an email from Scholz's former office chief Jeanette Schwamberger to his current chief of staff, Wolfgang Schmidt, revealed that there was no scheduled meeting with Olearius on Scholz's calendar in 2017, according to the German publication Stern.

Schwamberger's email expressed frustration and disbelief at the absence of any records for the meeting. Schmidt responded by affirming that the meeting had indeed taken place in November 2017.

Scholz maintained that he had no political influence on tax refunds during that time. Nevertheless, it appeared that he did not note the meeting with the bankers on his business calendar and only attempted to rectify this later, Stern reported.

Read more: Parliament probe into Scholz for tax fraud shut down

  • CDU
  • Germany
  • Scholz
  • fraud

Most Read

BBC from the front lines in Ukraine: It's bad, counteroffensive failed

BBC from the front lines in Ukraine: It's bad, counteroffensive failed

  • Europe
  • 28 Sep 2023
Zelensky joins Canadian Parliament’s ovation to WWII Nazi soldier

Zelensky joins Canadian Parliament’s ovation to WWII Nazi soldier

  • US & Canada
  • 25 Sep 2023
Who Would Ally with the West: ‘It’s Boring – The Real Excitement is in Asia’

Who Would Ally with the West: ‘It’s Boring – The Real Excitement is in Asia’

  • Analysis
  • 30 Sep 2023
How Hezbollah Burnt the Naqab Forest, The Abbassiye Landing Operation

Al Mayadeen documentary: How Hezbollah burnt the IOF's Naqab Forest

  • MENA
  • 24 Sep 2023

Coverage

All
Morocco & Libya Disasters

Read Next

All
sd
MENA

Islamic unity vital to counter US, Israeli plots, aggression: Raisi

DPRK flag
Asia

DPRK assimilates NATO, US alliance with Japan, South Korea to cancer

President Joe Biden signs H.J.Res.100, a bill that aims to avert a freight rail strike, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, in Washington. (AP)
US & Canada

Biden signs 45-day spending bill averting government shutdown

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP)n Ukrainian Port
Europe

Borrell sheds crocodile tears over Odessa after slew of drone attacks

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS