In Germany, a scandal is unfolding around the Protection of Climate and Ecology fund, which is suspected of helping companies to circumvent US sanctions for participating in the construction of the now detonated Russian gas pipeline "Nord Stream — 2".
As Bild writes, the "climate" fund, which received €20 million from the company Nord Stream 2 AG (operates the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream and Nord Stream — 2) and was used by the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (thatʼs where the pipeline is located), was never liquidated, as stated earlier. It still works.
Now it became known that the mysteriously missing last yearʼs tax declaration of the Fund was burned in the fireplace by a local employee of the financial inspection. This was admitted by the head of the tax service, Uve Olszewski, at a meeting of the committees on law and finance. The employee of the inspection also admitted this. At least three declarations were burned. They were about €20 million in donations from the Kremlin group Gazprom. Half of this amount was supposed to be paid as tax, but this did not happen.
The initiator of the creation of the fund was Manuela Schwezig, the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The publication writes that for many years she fought for the continuation of the construction of the pipeline, ignoring the warnings of the USA, Poland, the Baltic countries, and Ukraine. It is claimed that she worked closely with Putinʼs inner circle and since 2018 has met seven times with Matthias Warnig, the managing director of Nord Stream 2 AG.