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Berlin (dpa) - In the decisive phase of the Wirecard investigation committee, the opposition parties and the Union have targeted Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Union chairman Matthias Hauer said on Wednesday that Scholz had significant political responsibility and that the question of personal responsibility had to be asked.
The background is that the Ministry of Finance is responsible for financial supervision Bafin.
The Bafin are accused of serious errors relating to the Wirecard fraud scandal.
Scholz had to testify to the committee of inquiry on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) and Finance State Secretary Jörg Kukies should be questioned.
FDP chairman Florian Toncar called Kukies a key witness.
The focus of the survey is likely to be a short sale ban imposed by the Bafin in February 2019.
This plays a central role in the political clarification of the Wirecard scandal.
It strengthened the impression among investors that Wirecard was the victim of a targeted attack.
Short sellers speculate on falling prices for a company and often deliberately publish negative information.
Hauer called the short sale ban again fatal.
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The now insolvent Wirecard AG had admitted in June 2020 that the 1.9 billion euros listed in the balance sheet, which were supposedly in Asian bank accounts, could not be found. The Munich public prosecutor's office is now assuming a "commercial gang fraud" - since 2015. More than three billion euros could be lost.
The opposition wants to clarify the question of why the Ministry of Finance did not intervene in the short sale ban. The Green MP Lisa Paus said, referring to the statement of a former head of department from the Ministry of Finance, that Scholz's office had been informed in advance of the momentous ban on short sales. Scholz and the ministry unreservedly supported this wrong decision. Paus accused the minister of a slice of information policy. This leads to the suspicion that Scholz is “personally much deeper in the Wirecard swamp than previously assumed”.
SPD chairman Jens Zimmermann rejected the criticism of Scholz.
The fact that the ministerial office had been informed about the ban on short selling was not new information.
It is important to stick to the cause when clearing up.
Zimmermann pointed out that the responsible EU authority had also approved the ban.
There was no reason for the Treasury to sound the alarm.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is expected on Friday to conclude the witness questioning in the investigative committee.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210421-99-295227 / 2