Scholz Denies Influencing Warburg Cum-Ex Tax Decision in Hamburg

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he did not influence a controversial decision not to claim back 47 million euros ($57 million) in tax linked to Cum-Ex deals from Hamburg-based bank M.M. Warburg & Co.

“The public speculation is false,” Scholz said Friday in testimony to a Hamburg parliamentary investigation, describing allegations he was involved as “baseless horror stories.”

Scholz has come under pressure over the Cum-Ex affair since it became public that he met twice when he was Hamburg mayor with Warburg’s then-chief Christian Olearius in 2016.

At the time, the city’s finance administration was contemplating claiming back the ...