Money laundering investigations: Scholz defends his approach to customs

Against the background of investigations against the customs special unit FIU, SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz has emphasized that as finance minister he has expanded and improved the authority.

"I took over an authority with around 160 employees and made sure that it has grown to almost 500 today," Scholz told journalists in Worms on Saturday.

"It will continue to grow, to over 700." Financial politicians from the Greens, FDP and Left had previously accused Scholz of "overall political responsibility" for "ongoing grievances at the FIU".

Scholz added: "We have provided a new management structure, we have ensured that a modern IT is created there, and we have ensured with several legislative proposals that the FIU receives the necessary competencies with all other authorities (... ) To query data in order to consider them together with the data that we enter here. "This is the basis for" that we can fight money laundering, terrorist financing, all of these things better with a well-positioned authority ".

In investigations against those responsible at the FIU, a money laundering central office of the customs, whose official name is "Central Office for Financial Transaction Investigation", the Osnabrück public prosecutor had the Federal Ministry of Finance and Justice searched on Thursday. Documents were also confiscated. Since last year, the public prosecutors have been investigating a suspicion of thwarting punishment in office by the FIU. The central office, which is part of the Ministry of Finance, is said to have not passed on information from banks about money laundering to the police and the judiciary.

After the search, the Greens, the FDP and the Left announced on Friday that they would apply for a special meeting of the Finance Committee: “We would like to invite Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who has overall political responsibility for the ongoing grievances at the FIU, to take a stand and to provide a comprehensive explanation to contribute to the processes ”, declared the chairmen Lisa Paus (Greens), Stefan Liebich (Left) and Markus Herbrand (FDP).

In response to criticism from Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet of his statements on the search, Scholz replied in Worms: "I find it remarkable that the CDU / CSU apparently no longer has any issues of its own." to sow the rule of law.

Scholz had told the broadcaster Welt that the investigations were directed against unknown employees in Cologne. In this context questions had arisen for the two ministries. This “could have been put in writing,” said Scholz. “Now they have been asked in a different way. Everyone can rate that for themselves. "