The tax declaration of the German “Climate Fund”, which received 20 million euros from Russia, was burned by a tax worker.
The head of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Manuela Schwesig, who was a supporter of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and initiated the creation of this fund to circumvent sanctions, probably put pressure on the tax service, whose employee burned the corresponding document.
The Climate Fund has long been criticized for helping to complete a gas pipeline project in circumvention of US sanctions. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, Ms. Schwesig faced a new wave of criticism as many urged her to give money for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The fund did not notify the tax service in time about the millionth donation from the Russian Gazprom and did not pay a single tax for such a gift.
Currently, the tax worker who burned the declaration of the Climate Fund is under investigation.
Recently, the scandal, which has already received the name “fireplace gate” in the German press, flares up with renewed vigor. The Ostsee-Zeitung reports that an official from the financial inspectorate burned not one climate fund tax return, but three at once.
We are talking about the Climate and Ecology Protection Foundation, founded two years ago on the initiative of the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Manuela Schwesig.
A flurry of criticism fell on Schwesig: in the Bundestag, deputies were even specially allocated time so that they could discuss this issue. In the land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a parliamentary commission of inquiry began to work, which should find out the reasons for what happened. Schwesig’s fellow party members from the SPD tried to explain that the document was mistakenly placed in the wrong folder, which was why it was disposed of, but these words caused only laughter in parliament.
The burned tax returns included donations from the Russian company Gazprom in the amount of 20 million euros. The fact is that, according to the law, half of this amount must be paid as taxes, but this never happened.
On March 3, the head of the tax service, Uwe Olszewski, said that an employee of the financial inspectorate burned not only the declaration, but a whole stack of documents – what kind of papers and exactly how many were still unknown.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.