The Scandal That Could End Scholz Is Getting Bigger

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s past is being investigated on grounds of alleged corruption. But the chief investigator into these allegations is from Scholz’s own party.

Steffen Jänicke is the head of the working staff of the Parliamentary Investigation Committee. Parties take turns appointing this head, and the way the rotation fell allowed the Social Democratic Party (spd) to appoint one of its own.

Curiously, of all things, in a committee that is supposed to clarify possible misconduct by top spd politicians, the spd appoints both the head of the working staff and his deputy, i.e. the central people who prepare each interrogation. In addition, the committee chairman and his deputy are in the spd, i.e. the people who ask the witnesses the prepared questions of the working staff in the committee.
—Spiegel Online (February 22)

• Even more alarming is that Hamburg’s constitutional protectors voiced concerns over the trustworthiness of Jänicke.
• According to information from Manager Magazin and ndr, the concerns revolved around Jänicke’s connections to Russia.
• Despite concerns, Jänicke was given security clearance and access to strictly confidential documents of the investigative committee.
• The recent revelation raises suspicions that the spd approved the appointment due to personal bias.

It is completely incomprehensible to me why we were not informed. In such an explosive personnel issue of a parliamentary investigative committee, such a process must not be concealed. That is a breach of trust. Moreover, the impression must not be created that double standards were applied here on the basis of party affiliation.
—Richard Seelmaecker, chairman of the Christian Democrats in the committee

Background: In 2016, Hamburg’s tax authorities noticed tax fraud committed by the Warburg Bank and demanded €47 million (us$49.6 million) in repayment. The bank disputed the case, contacted Hamburg’s government, and the case was dropped. Olaf Scholz was the first mayor of Hamburg at the time. (Learn more in “The Scandal That Could End Scholz.”)

Change in leadership prophesied: The Trumpet watches Germany’s leadership crisis closely. The Bible reveals that a strong German leader will rise out of it as the Prophet Daniel says: “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up” (Daniel 8:23).

This prophecy is for the end time (Daniel 12:4, 9) and has yet to be fulfilled.