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Former Finance Minister Olaf Scholz
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
Consumer advocates want to force the Ministry of Finance to disclose official contacts between Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) and lobby associations and the financial sector.
The organization Finanzwende has therefore filed a lawsuit against the ministry with the Berlin administrative court.
The minister’s appointments are official information to which the financial turnaround is entitled under the Freedom of Information Act, the organization justifies the complaint.
"At this point, it is a question of a minimum of transparency," said Marcus Wolf, a financial transition expert.
"Be it Wirecard or Cum-Ex - in financial policy there was often harmful influence from the financial lobby." The public had a right to know with whom the finance minister was meeting.
"Why the ministry is building up here is inexplicable," emphasized Wolf.
The claim that the publication of dates could hinder government action is "simply outrageous."
Finanzwende wants to know, among other things, when and in what way Scholz spoke to professional associations from the banking and insurance industry and what contacts he had with shareholder representatives and companies such as Allianz, Blackrock, Deutsche Bank and Wirecard.
kig / dpa-AFX
