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Berlin (dpa) - After the Vice Chancellor also the Chancellor: Angela Merkel (CDU) today has to testify in the investigative committee on what is probably the biggest accounting scandal of the German post-war period.
She is invited as a witness because she campaigned for Wirecard on a trip to China in September 2019.
At that time, there were already critical media reports about the scandalous company - according to a government spokesman, Merkel knew nothing about possible serious irregularities at Wirecard at the time of the trip.
The main concern of the members of the investigative committee will be how Merkel became aware of Wirecard, an up-and-coming fintech and DAX company at the time.
Critical questions about lobbying in the Chancellery are expected.
Because before the trip to China, the Chancellor had a visit from former Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who worked as a lobbyist for Wirecard.
He pointed out the company and its expansion plans in China to Merkel.
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The Chancellor's commitment was worth gold for the scandalous company, say the members of the investigative committee - also because Wirecard was able to counter critics with it.
In this way, Merkel unintentionally contributed to an extension of the alleged balance sheet fraud.
Wirecard then admitted last summer that 1.9 billion euros could not be found on the balance sheet. The Munich public prosecutor's office assumes that the now insolvent company has falsified its balance sheets since at least 2015. According to the Union, the bankruptcy caused economic damage of around 22 billion euros - many small investors lost money.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) is also under fire in the scandal.
He also testified the day before in the committee and stressed that the government was not responsible for what he saw as large-scale fraud.
On the other hand, the Union and the opposition already see Scholz as having a political responsibility - because his ministry is responsible for the financial supervision of Bafin, which could have uncovered irregularities at Wirecard.
Scholz and the SPD, on the other hand, see above all errors in the auditors - but also in need of reform at the Bafin.
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Scholz was interviewed for more than nine hours - similar to his State Secretary Jörg Kukies the day before.
Even with Merkel, you have a lot of time, the MPs indicated before the questioning.
However, it is expected that she will not be questioned as comprehensively as the Vice Chancellor for a long time.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210423-99-317366 / 3