The story of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s camouflage foundation to save Nord Stream 2 has taken a new, surprising turn. A tax officer is said to have burned the tax return of the “MV Foundation for Climate and Environmental Protection”, as reported by the magazine “Cicero”.
But first things first: The foundation was set up at the instigation of the state government to protect the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project from impending US sanctions. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) had personally campaigned for the project. An economic business operation of the foundation organized the completion of the two tubes through the Baltic Sea.
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The endowment capital of 20 million euros, which is said to be used for climate protection projects, came from Nord Stream 2, a subsidiary of the Russian energy company Gazprom. In February 2022, just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the federal government stopped the project.
However, no gift tax was paid on the 20 million euros at least until April 2022, as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Finance Minister Heiko Geue (SPD) announced in the Schwerin state parliament at the time. The tax returns are relevant for clarifying the question of how this could have happened at all. At first it was said that these had been lost or had not arrived at the responsible tax office.
Official is said to have burned tax returns “out of panic”.
The tax officer found the tax return during an “intensive search” in her office, reported “Cicero”. She later burned the document in an acquaintance’s fireplace “out of panic” and because of the growing pressure within the authorities and from the media. The officer informed her superior, who turned on the public prosecutor’s office.
“Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s image has reached a new low,” Gerhard Bley from Transparency International told the Tagesspiegel. “This story fits into the picture of the situation in this federal state.” The public prosecutor’s office must now urgently clarify what happened “in the tax office and around it”.
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Schwesig promised clarification on Thursday. “The incident must be fully clarified,” said the Prime Minister on Deutschlandfunk. At the same time, she rejected the accusation of political influence. How much tax someone has to pay is checked by the responsible tax authorities. “The State Chancellery and especially the Prime Minister have no influence on this.”
Schwesig’s Minister of Finance, Geue, emphasized that the foundation had received a decision from the responsible tax office on the payment of the gift tax. “There was no political influence on the processors in the tax office.”