A lot of political prominence is expected in the Wirecard investigation committee these days: But can the big names like Scholz, Altmaier and Merkel really help to clarify the situation?
From Alfred Schmit, ARD capital studio The distance rules could get tricky outside the committee of inquiry this week. Because big names always attract whole groups of observers, and financial media are added to the capital city press when it comes to Wirecard. It was the same when ex-Federal Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg came – however, the hearing about his lobbying work produced a result with little substance. This should not be repeated.
What did Altmaier know?
From today’s survey by Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier, the MPs hope to gain clarification about accounting auditing firms such as KPMG – and above all about EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young. You looked in the books at Wirecard – and Altmaier is politically responsible for overseeing these companies. The main questions for him: Why did it only become apparent so late that Wirecard’s balance sheets were wrong? And how can this be prevented from happening again. Danyal Bayaz, for the Greens in the committee, used to work for a consulting firm and thinks: In the Wirecard case, the balance sheet check clearly failed. The business location is battered, the damage to the image is great. “The Federal Minister of Economics has to touch his nose: where has his authority not been working properly?”, Says Bayaz. After the questioning of the Federal Minister of Economics, it is the turn of the digital representative of the Chancellery, Dorothee Bär. What did she know about the nested tech company’s business? Wednesday will be the silent star of the celebrity week at the Wirecard investigation committee: Here come Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht and Finance State Secretary Jörg Kukies – he has to listen to allegations of oversleeping the reform of the German financial supervisory authority BaFin.
Spotlight on Scholz
When Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and the Chancellor arrive on Thursday and Friday, many spotlights will be on them. SPD chairman Jens Zimmermann believes, however, that no matter how great the attention may be, the knowledge could be so little. There will be great disappointment when the chancellor and the finance minister are questioned, he says. “Neither of them will be able to contribute much to the clarification because they were hardly concerned with these topics personally.” Big wave, little content: the risk is there. However, the results of the committee of inquiry so far are absolutely impressive: Minister Scholz felt compelled to submit a draft law for more financial market security. Leading minds in German financial supervision were called to account. Some lost their jobs because the committee’s educational work revealed that they had misconduct. In addition, the financial supervisory authority BaFin is getting a reform that has not yet been completed. In any case, celebrity week brings with it one thing: more attention to how this 22 billion euro bankruptcy has lost many investors’ money.
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