“Nothing happened,” the chancellor said. Olaf Soltztestifying before the Hamburg Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating his possible involvement in the Cum-Ex scandal.

Mr Soltz, who was mayor/governor of the Hanseatic city during the multi-billion dollar tax evasion scandal, denied involvement, insisting he did not remember the details of the case.

The chairman of the commission, a deputy from the Christian Democratic Party (CDU), Richard Selmacher, even asked the chancellor if he would agree to undergo hypnosis, “perhaps this is how lost memories come up.”

“Your question shows how comically we have reached,” replied Olaf Soltz, who testified for more than three hours today.

The subject of the investigation is his meetings with the bankers of the Hamburg bank “Warburg”, which was at the center of the scandal. Mr. Soltz admitted that he met with Christian Olearius and Max Warburg three times in 2016 and 2017, but he no longer remembers the content of those meetings, he claims.

“I like to talk and I know that I am acting legally. This applies to all the discussions that I had,” he told the Commission.

According to Mr. Olearius, after the first meeting, Olaf Soltz recommended that he write to the then finance senator and current mayor of Hamburg, Peter Chencher.

The chancellor today largely repeated his constant statement that “nothing happened”, referring, among other things, to the diary entries of Mr. Olearius about his meetings with Mr. Soltz.

“He asks, he listens, he does not express an opinion, he does not say anything about what he thinks and whether he is going to and how he will act. I understand him, I don’t want to put pressure on him or somehow embarrass him, ”the banker wrote. In a later entry, he notes that he invited two Hamburg SPD officials, Johannes Kars and Alfred Pavelchuk, to dinner “to thank them for their help”. Once again, Mr. Soltz insisted that there was no sign of political interference in the tax process. As for his meetings with bankers, according to him, they are connected with the formation of an opinion, and not with any other relationship.

“I make no commitments and make no promises. I am extremely reserved,” the chancellor said.

The commission’s president called Olaf Soltz’s statements “incredible” and decided to call him back to testify. Earlier, CDU leader Friedrich Merz said he did not believe a single word of the Chancellor.

RES – OIE