When it comes to protecting against fraud with Corona aid, Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has apparently taken it surprisingly calm.
That could catch up with him now.
Munich - In the Corona aid fraud affair, Federal Finance Minister and SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz is now under pressure.
According to a report by Business Insider, the Federal Ministry of Finance is said to have refused, despite multiple warnings, to automatically compare the application data of companies seeking help with the data such as tax identification number or account number available at the responsible tax offices.
In an internal memo dated December 21, Scholz was informed of the problem, but rejected an adjustment, reports the portal.
Corona aid: Federal Ministry of Finance considered data comparison "dispensable"
According to the report, the Federal Ministry of Economics had warned the Federal Ministry of Finance urgently, down to state secretary level, that the data comparison was necessary to prevent fraud.
But Scholz's house refused.
In support of this, the Ministry of Finance stated that the transfer of the bank details, for example, which would allow the applicant to be clearly identified, was "unnecessary", since "the financial administration relied on the personal information provided by the professionals in relation to their clients (including the IBAN ) can trust ".
According to the legal requirements, the applications for Corona aid are not made by the companies themselves, but by the respective tax consultants, lawyers or auditors.
From the point of view of the Scholz ministerial, “effective protection against abuse” existed.
Corona help: Expensive fallacy
However, this turned out to be an expensive fallacy.
In the past few months, fraudsters used the identities of lawyers or tax consultants to repeatedly apply for emergency aid for existing companies and have the money paid out to their private accounts.
According to an initial overview, the fraudsters are said to have ripped off at least 15 million euros.
After the fraud was exposed at the end of last week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs initially stopped all payments on account.
However, on Friday (March 12th) payments were resumed.
In the past few months there had been repeated disputes between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs about the implementation of the Corona aid.
The SPD had tried to blame the economic minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) for the meanwhile sluggish payment of the corona aid.
