Thursday April 22, 2021
Survey on the Wirecard affair
Vice Chancellor Scholz denies complicity
The investigation into the Wirecard financial scandal is entering a new round. This time Federal Finance Minister Scholz has to answer questions. In doing so, he rejects any responsibility of the federal government. In order to arm itself in the future, the financial supervisory authority Bafin has been readjusted.
Before the parliamentary committee of inquiry into the Wirecard scandal, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended politics and the authorities. “The federal government is not responsible for this fraud,” said the SPD politician. The scandal came about “through serious criminal acts” at Wirecard. At the same time, he criticized the fact that the auditors had not found any irregularities during the audit of the balance sheet; the auditors had been believed “too long”.
Scholz said that the financial supervisory authority under the Ministry of Finance, Bafin, which was heavily criticized in the Wirecard scandal, acted “within the scope of its legal possibilities”. The supervisory and control structure was not equipped for such a criminal attack, he said. Consequences were drawn from this in the wake of the scandal, added the minister with a view to the law to strengthen financial market integrity and the recently expanded competencies for the Bafin. The most important task is to restore confidence in Germany as a financial location.
The accusation that the Bafin or the Ministry of Finance had held a protective hand over the company was rejected by Scholz as an “absurd fairy tale”. When asked whether he was personally responsible, the minister replied “no”. This also applies to the state secretaries, who have done “very good work”.
Wirecard filed for bankruptcy at the end of June 2020 and is said to have falsified the balance sheets for years. The committee of inquiry is supposed to deal with the incidents around the payment service provider and in particular to examine the actions of the federal government and the authorities subordinate to it. On Friday, the hearing of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is on the agenda. Earlier this week, other members of the federal government had to testify.
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