"Zeit" editor Josef Joffe warned banker friends against critical reports on the cum

Editor Joffe: Letter to a Friend

Photo: © Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters/ REUTERS

The publisher of "Zeit", Josef Joffe, warned the Hamburg private bank Warburg in advance against critical reporting by the weekly newspaper on the so-called cum-ex scandal.

This emerges from a personal letter that Joffe wrote in January 2017 to Max Warburg, the co-owner of the bank.

The reason for the letter was apparently a complaint from the banker about a "Zeit" article from November 2016, which dealt with the bank's controversial tax tricks.

In the letter, Joffe emphasizes that he tried to "limit the damage" for Warburg: "I warned you about what was in the pipeline," Joffe said literally.

It was thanks to his "intervention" that the article "was postponed and the bank was given the opportunity to object".

Joffe also recalls that he "begged" the banker to hire "an excellent PR agency" for the allegations.

Both men had a long friendship.

Joffe denies influence

When asked by SPIEGEL, Joffe denied having influenced the reporting.

He merely advised the editors "to give the Warburg Bank an opportunity to express itself".

At the same time, he encouraged Max Warburg to "talk to our reporters."

The publication was therefore postponed by about a week.

According to Joffe's account, he wrote the letter because Max Warburg had ended the friendship.

A "Zeit" spokeswoman also said on request that the publisher had had no influence on the reporting.

Warburg Bank had wrongly had taxes refunded as part of the cum-ex practice.

The bank denies criminal offenses to this day.

However, the Federal Court of Justice ruled last year that the cum-ex practice was fundamentally illegal.

It was widespread in the financial scene for years and cost the state billions.

Two former high-ranking Warburg bankers have now been sentenced to several years in prison.

In Hamburg City Hall, a committee of inquiry wants to clarify whether the city was unfairly sparing the long-established bank at times.

This Friday, the mayor of Hamburg, Peter Tschentscher (SPD), has to testify as a witness.