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Germany’s finance ministry has been attacked for an attempt to secretly interfere with the interrogation of a key witness during a parliamentary investigation into Wirecard, a possible breach of parliamentary etiquette.
The collapse of the German payment company last summer sparked shockwaves through the German financial and political elite. A parliamentary inquiry has uncovered multiple regulatory failures and led to the departure of the heads of three control agencies.
Days before Friday’s final parliamentary debate on the commission’s final report, the finance ministry revealed that one of its senior officials had tried to intervene in the investigation in the run-up to the Munich chief prosecutor’s interrogation. , Hildegard Bäumler-Hösl, key witness.
The government revealed this in a written response to a question posed by Fabio De Masi, a hard-line left-wing MP Die Linke, who was seen by the Financial Times.
The ministerial official was not appointed, but can be identified by the description of his role, as Reinhard Wolpers, the head of the financial market stability subdivision. Wolpers is one of three finance ministry employees who serve on BaFin’s board of directors. The finance ministry declined to comment on his identity.
In the run-up to the Bäumler-Hösl interrogation in January, Wolpers addressed BaFin vice-president Elisabeth Roegele at the time and asked her to ask questions about Bäumler-Hösl, which she would then pass on to MPs.
The government has no constitutional role in the investigation, which Parliament pursues and has similar powers to a court. In addition, Roegele was also appointed a witness and had not yet been questioned by deputies. The government forced her to quit her job alongside President Felix Hufeld in late January.
“The behavior of the wolves is a clear violation of the rules,” De Masi told the Financial Times, adding that the government official showed “a lack of respect for the Bundestag.”
BaFin and Munich prosecutors are embroiled in a game of blame for the controversial 2019 short-term sell-off ban, which investors considered a vote of confidence in the disgraced company. BaFin imposed the ban after receiving information from Munich prosecutors about an alleged imminent short-term sale attack on Wirecard.
Several BaFin employees told lawmakers that Munich prosecutors had said the information was very credible. Bäumler-Hösl denied this and said that he had just transmitted it to BaFin without commenting on its validity.
The ban on short-term selling is potentially toxic to German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who is the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor in the September federal election.
The finance ministry publicly scolded the watchdog for banning the short-term sale, saying it was based on poor and insufficient analysis.
The ministry’s response to De Masi revealed that the Wolpers approached Roegele by email and text messages days before Bäumler-Hösl’s testimony. The ministry said Wolpers “acted on his own initiative and personally and did not coordinate with other employees of the finance ministry.” He added that the executive level “at no time” was informed about the behavior, but was only aware of the matter due to De Masi’s investigation.
“The communication of [our] The employee with Mrs. Roegele finally had no results, as Mrs. Roegele did not submit such suggestions for questions, “the ministry said, adding that” no information was transmitted “to members of the ministry’s inquiry committee.
Lisa Paus, a Green MP, said the “finance ministry authority” was misused for the political interest of the Social Democrats. “This is absolutely forbidden.”
Florian Toncar, a pro-business MP for the Free Democrats, said it would be “very surprising” that Wolpers’ actions “were not approved or even requested by the top level of the ministry.”
Jens Zimmermann, SPD’s representative in the investigation, said he was unable to comment on the ministry’s internal procedures “as I have no idea [into them]”, Adding that his only contact was with the official representatives of the ministry in the committee. “I did not receive any suggestions on possible questions from Ms. Bäumler-Hösl,” Zimmermann said.
Wolpers and Roegele did not respond to FT’s requests for comment. Munich prosecutors declined to comment.
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