Wirecard: German Parliament slams Scholz and Merkel
Reuters, 07 June 2021
A committee of lawmakers in the Bundestag has published its inquiry into the Wirecard fraud affair. The damaging report comes months before Germany’s general election.
The public inquiry into the Wirecard scandal published its concluding report on Monday, criticizing Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The parliamentary committee consisting of opposition lawmakers ended a monthslong investigation into the scandal with the publication of a 675-page draft report.
The report called out Scholz, who is also the chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats, for his oversight and mishandling of the biggest fraud scandal in post-war Germany.
“Olaf Scholz as finance minister bears political responsibility for the failure of BaFin,” the report said. BaFin is Germany’s financial regulator and part of Scholz’s ministry.
The committee also said that Merkel had been naive about the lobbying efforts by Wirecard.
