CDU Candidate For German Chancellor Demands Apology From Social Democrat Rival Scholz

CDU Candidate for German Chancellor Demands Apology From Social Democrat Rival Scholz

Armin Laschet, the German candidate for chancellor from the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, demanded on Saturday that his Social Democrat rival, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, apologize for his statements about the recent raid on the German Finance Ministry

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2021) Armin Laschet, the German candidate for chancellor from the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, demanded on Saturday that his Social Democrat rival, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, apologize for his statements about the recent raid on the German Finance Ministry.

Earlier in the week, German prosecutors raided the country's finance ministry as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation. This comes roughly two weeks ahead of a general election. The finance minister later commented on the incident in an interview with German broadcaster Welt, noting the showy nature of the raid. Laschet responded by describing Scholz's remarks as being helpful to German populists.

"I hope that he will ... apologize, because this exactly is what we criticize populist governments in other countries for defamation of an independent prosecution and judiciary," Laschet said at a conference of the CDU ally, Bavarian Christian Social Union party, in Nuremberg as broadcast by German channel N-TV.

Germany will hold the Federal elections on September 26, after which the winning party will appoint the federal chancellor to head the government and replace incumbent Angela Merkel.