A probe into the Wirecard affair is picking up speed. At a special session of the Bundestag Finance Committee, MPs have questioned top ministers and lobbyist influence over the government is becoming increasingly clear. Setting up a special inquiry committee is becoming more likely as a result.
Following the special session of the Bundestag committee on the Wirecard scandal, many questions remain unanswered. The Die Linke and far-right AfD parties called for a special panel even before the meeting started.
This will require the approval of a quarter of the Bundestag, some 178 members. Since it is unclear whether the parties want to cooperate with the AfD in this matter, a combination of Die Linke, FDP and the Greens would probably be needed.
The latter two have so far not been as committed as Die Linke, but their Finance Committee members Florian Toncar (FDP) and Danyal Bayaz (Greens) indicated that they would probably agree.
For Toncar, the many open points suggest “that we will also have to deal with a committee of inquiry in greater detail”.
Although the Greens are “so far satisfied” with the ministers’ information, according to their fiscal policy spokesperson Lisa Paus, Bayaz said “The probability that a committee of inquiry will come is probably higher than the probability that it won’t.”
