German Chancellor Olaf Scholz apparently suffered an accident that injured his eye.
Before the black eye, Olaf was due to answer questions about his meetings with banking executives at Warburg Bank, the Hamburg institution at the center of the Cum-Ex tax scandal — a scheme that cost German taxpayers billions. As mayor of Hamburg, Scholz met with bank co-owner Christian Olearius multiple times. After those meetings, the city’s tax office let a €47 million tax bill lapse.
The hearing was postponed. No new date has been set.
When Scholz eventually faced questions, the detail-obsessed former lawyer — a man famous for his memory — offered a stunning defense: he couldn’t recall what was discussed.
Scholz’s black eye joined a growing gallery of powerful figures photographed with unexplained facial injuries — often right before they were scheduled to talk, testify, or disclose something inconvenient. The black eye isn’t the scandal. The forgetting is.