After the Raid on the Ministry of Finance

SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under pressure

The “governance” criterion plays an important role in ESG ratings for states. Not only credit ratings are influenced by good governance. Finance ministries have a crucial role in this.

The Osnabrück public prosecutor’s office searched the Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany this week. The Federal Ministry of Justice was also in the sights of the investigators. The background to this is an investigation against those in charge of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a special unit of customs against money laundering.

As “Spiegel” reports, German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg, there is a suspicion of thwarting punishment in the office. The FIU allegedly failed to properly forward money laundering reports from banks to law enforcement authorities.

“The FIU is a bunch of chaos. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has not got the business under control in the past four years. That is his responsibility,” said FDP financial expert Frank Schäffler, commenting on the events.

The conditions are alarming and particularly relevant in light of the fact that the Federal Minister of Finance is currently applying for chancellorship in Germany in the federal election campaign.