German Chancellor denies exerting influence in tax fraud scandal

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has denied exerting influence in a multi-million euro tax fraud case against Hamburg-based Warburg Bank, in a parliamentary hearing into sprawling “Cum-Ex” trading scheme to defraud tax authorities.While being questioned on Friday for a second time by the state parliamentary committee in Hamburg, Scholz maintained that “there was no political interference whatsoever”, reports dpa news agencyThe committee is to determine whether Scholz or other leading Social Democratic politicians had used their influence to help spare Warburg Bank from repaying 47 million euros ($47.2 million) in taxes. The bank had been involved in the notorious Cum-Ex scheme, which saw traders in Europe use a legal loophole to shift shares back and forth at high speed between parties around the time dividends were paid out, in order to receive reimbursements for taxes they had not actually paid.