Dusseldorf It’s a bitter end to a great career. Christian Olearius has just celebrated his eightieth birthday. Many years as a successful bank boss lie behind him, and a process lies ahead of him.
Olearius denies wrongdoing and the indictment is not yet ready. But hardly anyone in Hamburg doubts it: Olearius will appear in court. Not even Olaf Scholz can help him there.
Scholz owes a lot to his friend Olearius. The head of the traditional Hamburg bank MM Warburg was an institution in the Hanseatic city. He donated to the Thalia Theater, to the Elbphilharmonie, to the SPD. You knew each other, you valued each other.
So there was no question for Olearius who to turn to when his bank ran into problems with the public prosecutor in 2016. He turned to Olaf Scholz, then Mayor of Hamburg.
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What happened next seemed to prove Olearius right. It was about 47 million euros. The tax office in Hamburg actually wanted to reclaim them from the Warburg Bank because they came from transactions in which those involved had swindled double tax refunds. These deals were called Cum-Ex. They were illegal.
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Nevertheless, the tax office suddenly refrained from retrieving the millions. Was there an instruction from Scholz? The then mayor of Hamburg and today’s federal chancellor cannot remember. That would be a good defense if Olearius hadn’t entered that conversation with his friend in his diary. A committee of inquiry is now in session.
In Handelsblatt-Crime, Sönke Iwersen, Ina Karabasz and Volker Votsmeier talk about an old male friendship, new insights and a prosecutor from Cologne who just won’t let up. Not even in Hamburg.
Handelsblatt Crime appears every 14 days and can be heard wherever there are podcasts.
More: You can hear the last episode of Handelsblatt Crime here.