Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is accused of profiteering. He had received a loan from a bank and then said hello
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) rejected the allegations in connection with a loan for the purchase of his private house. The “Tagesspiegel” reported that the minister gave a video speech for the bank that financed the purchase of his house. The prosecutor’s office is now looking into waiving Lindner’s parliamentary immunity, the paper said. Lindner’s lawyer Christian Schertz announced on Sunday: “Mr. Lindner began his private real estate financing long before he took up his ministry. All conditions were always customary in the market. Granting a short greeting on anniversaries such as the centenary of a bank is part of the ordinary course of a minister’s office.’
The “Tagesspiegel” reported that Lindner held the greeting for a private customer bank in Karlsruhe in May 2022 and “apparently hid” that he had taken out a loan from the institution. Because after the farewell he had another loan from the same bank, he is now threatened with criminal prosecution for accepting an advantage. The corruption department of the Berlin public prosecutor’s office is currently looking into waiving Lindner’s immunity as a member of parliament in order to formally investigate. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said, according to the newspaper, that this was “normal in these cases and without a statement being made as to the existence of an initial suspicion”. Last fall, the “Spiegel” reported allegations in connection with Lindner’s real estate financing.
Schertz explained that there was no connection between the two processes: the salute and the private real estate financing. Lindner sees “today’s dealings with composure”.
toh/dpa
