The dubious mortgage of the German Finance Minister: a conflict of interest with his bank raises suspicions of corruption

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on January 6 during an event of his party, the FDP Liberals, in Stuttgart. ANDREAS GEBERT (REUTERS)

German Christian Lindner, the very liberal guardian of budgetary orthodoxy and fiscal sobriety, has been followed for months by a dark cloud: the shadow of corruption.

The question that hangs over him is a delicate one: did he get a private loan of several million for advertising for a bank thanks to being finance minister?

The doubt has passed from the journalistic field to the legal one.

The Berlin Prosecutor's Office is evaluating the opening of an investigation to verify if the mortgage granted by the BBBank entity conforms to market conditions or if Lindner obtained advantageous conditions because he is who he is.

At the moment, the investigation is in a very preliminary phase, so much so that it is not possible to speak of proceedings, but the announcement by the Prosecutor's Office puts Lindner, leader of the liberals of the FDP and partner of Olaf Scholz in the tripartite government with Social Democrats and Greens.

If the suspicions come true, prosecutors could request the lifting of his parliamentary immunity to investigate him thoroughly.

The case has also opened another spigot: the debate on whether German anti-corruption laws are too permissive has been reactivated.

Lindner's relationship with BBBank, a rather modest entity in Karlsruhe, in southwestern Germany, is long and fruitful.

In 2014, the politician, then a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, gave the first conference at his headquarters, according to

, the German publication that uncovered the shocking link with the current minister last October.

The business relationship - the talks had monetary consideration - lasted for years, also when Lindner came to represent his formation in the federal Parliament, the Bundestag.

The liberal not only attended BBBank events.

Between 2017 and 2019, as can still be seen in the digital archive of the Lower House, he lavished himself on dozens of gigs at banks, consultancies and insurance companies.

What he charged for them does not appear - he was not obliged to give that information;

only to disclose his participation ―, but the publication calculates that in those years he pocketed between 35,000 and 73,000 euros from the Karlsruhe entity alone for seven events.

On January 29, 2021, Lindner bought a single-family house – a mansion, according to some media – in the elegant Nikolassee district of Berlin, a green oasis southwest of the German capital.

It cost him 1.65 million euros, but the BBBank gave him a mortgage of 2.35 million.

At that time the leader of the liberals was still a deputy.

Following the September 2021 elections and the subsequent coalition agreement to form a government, the politician became Finance Minister in December of that year.

Despite having a private business relationship with the bank, and as a federal minister, Lindner volunteered to record a keynote address for the bank's centenary party in spring 2022. “I've liked BBBank ever since. the beginning”, he said, among other complimentary phrases.

Only a few weeks after his intervention, the bank granted him a new loan of 450,000 euros as an extension of the mortgage.

The obvious question that anyone, including anti-corruption prosecutors, asks in this case is: What led BBBank to give a line of credit that exceeds the purchase value of the house by one million euros?

Back in October, when

launched the exclusive, Lindner's lawyer denied the accusation that his client had mixed private and public interests.

He assured that there is no connection between the speech and real estate financing.

But the publication wonders if the minister disclosed that private relationship before giving the talk.

It is not the same, argue those who have been scandalized by the news, to intervene in acts of private companies -ministers do it very often- than to do it in the one that has given you a mortgage in apparently very advantageous conditions.

"The ministry's press office did not respond to a question whether the minister had disclosed his business relationship with BBBank before the video greeting was recorded,"

wrote .

Again through his lawyer, Lindner has assured this week that the private relationship with the bank began long before he became minister and that the large amounts of the loan are due to "the enormous fluctuations in the real estate market."

The politician made a presumably expensive renovation of the house after acquiring it.

Recording a video greeting for a bank as a minister is not a crime, added the lawyer.

Yes, it would be if the prosecutors proved that the loan was obtained in exchange for his services.

Deputies in private acts

In Germany it is not surprising that politicians appear in advertisements and give paid talks.

A study by the Otto Brenner Foundation, from the IG metallurgical union, revealed in 2021 that during the previous legislature (2017-2021) a third of the Bundestag deputies received a total of 53 million euros for this type of private activity.

That is, as an extra to their salaries, which currently reach 10,323 euros per month gross (plus an allowance of 4,725 euros tax-free).

The Christian Democrats and the Liberals were the ones that obtained the most extra income in that period.

Faced with some requests for resignation, especially from the left of Die Linke, the members of the FDP in Parliament defended the honor of Lindner and fired at the Government of the State-City of Berlin, led by the Social Democrats and on which the Prosecutor's Office depends that he plans to open proceedings against the minister.

They believe that they have acted with partisan interest to harm the FDP before the Berlin elections, which are repeated on February 12 after the previous ones were annulled due to a series of irregularities.

The Prosecutor's Office communicated this in response to questions from the Berlin newspaper

.

Revealing such a preliminary investigation is "a violation of the rights" of Lindner, the vice president of his party, Wolfgang Kubicki, was outraged after the news broke.

This Friday

reveals that he also charged from the bank for giving a talk.

The German section of Transparency International, on the other hand, applauds that the Prosecutor's Office is making a preliminary analysis of the case.

“Loans of that amount are completely unaffordable for the average homeowner.

Banks like BBBank in particular are known to be very cautious," their spokesman Wolfgang Jäckle told public broadcaster RND.

“The rule of law must look critically at a minister,” he added, calling for more transparency.

At least the bank is not for that job: this week it has removed the videos in which Lindner appeared from its website.

Follow all the international information on

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber