After almost ten years, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has an official appearance in Berlin again.
The former defense minister has been summoned as a witness before the Wirecard committee of inquiry.
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
has been
summoned
as a witness before the
Wirecard investigation committee of
the Bundestag.
His company was involved in
Wirecard's
business.
Guttenberg is said to have used his relationship with Chancellor
Angela Merkel
.
Berlin - Almost ten years have passed since
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg's
resignation
.
Zu Guttenberg was accused in February 2011 of having
plagiarized on a massive scale
in his
doctoral thesis
, and shortly afterwards he resigned from all political offices.
Guttenberg lived in the United States for a few years, and the former defense minister rarely appeared in Germany.
Zu Guttenberg is now an entrepreneur, consultant and lobbyist, has
founded his own company
"
Spitzberg Partners
", named after the 521 meter high hill from his Upper Franconian homeland and based in
New York City
.
According to its own description, the company sees itself as a “management consultancy and investment company”, works “at the interface between the public and private sector” and wants to give customers “real-time insights” into geopolitical, structural and international regulatory changes.
Video: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg "godly" not to work as a politician anymore
Guttenberg back in Berlin: Former defense minister testifies before Wirecard committee
Among other things, zu Guttenberg's company Spitzberg Partners was involved
in paving the way for
Wirecard
to enter China.
In September 2019 there was a meeting with Chancellor
Angela Merkel
in the Chancellery, a few days later
Wirecard
was the topic of Merkel's trip to China, although serious allegations were already made against the financial company at the time.
Around two months later, Wirecard announced that it
would buy
shares in the Chinese company
AllScore Payment Services
.
This Thursday
Guttenberg
will appear again in political Berlin for the first time after his resignation as Defense Minister.
He has been
summoned
as a witness before the
Wirecard
Investigation Committee of
the Bundestag.
The reported
NTV.de
.
Florian Toncar
, who represents the FDP on the committee, told
NTV.de
: "The deal in China was celebrated at the time because until then no European group had a majority in a Chinese financial market company." He accuses Merkel of "no bad intent" , nevertheless it was a serious mistake and evidence of a lack of distance to Guttenberg.
Guttenberg before questioning in Berlin: focus on relationship with ex-Wirecard board members Markus Braun and Jan Marsalek
The
business in China was an important milestone
for Wirecard and the ex-CEO
Markus Braun
.
Braun continued to tell the "growth story of his company" and thus misled investors.
The
FDP politician regards
the point in time when
Chancellor Merkel
intervened as problematic.
"Speculations about falsification of the balance sheet and questionable deals with
Wirecard shares were
already known, also in the Chancellery." Toncar suspects that Guttenberg's company was only switched on "after Wirecard noticed that
Dorothee Bär
could not open the gates to the Chancellor." who, as Minister of State, is supposed to advance digitization in the Chancellery, had tried to mediate a conversation between Braun and Merkel.
The grand coalition also announced a comprehensive catalog of questions for the Guttenberg survey.
SPD committee representative
Jens Zimmermann
said: "Mr. Guttenberg will have to explain to us how the initiation in the Chancellery for his conversation with the Chancellor went and how much he earned with it." There were "considerable sums" in the room.
The relationship between Braun, the fleeting ex-board member
Jan Marsalek
and
zu Guttenberg
should also explain this.
"The legend has been knitted for weeks that the Chancellery could not have known anything about the background."