Prosecutors in the northeastern German city of Stralsund have established that the documents have disappeared, and there are reports they may have been burned in a fireplace by a tax official, Poland’s biznesalert.pl website reported on Thursday, citing Germany’s Cicero website.
The documents concern the payment of a EUR 10 million subsidy by the Nord Stream 2 operator to a German foundation called Stiftung Klimaschutz, according to biznesalert.pl.
The legality of the payment from the Nord Stream 2 company, which is 100 percent-owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, is subject to a probe by German prosecutors, the Polish website said.
According to Cicero, the tax documents may have been burned; it quoted a tax official as saying she threw the documents into a fireplace “in an act of panic,” biznesalert.pl reported.
German foundation aimed to protect Nord Stream 2 from US sanctions: Polish website
The Stiftung Klimaschutz foundation was established in 2021 by the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, biznesalert.pl reported.
The aim was to protect the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, from possible American sanctions, according to biznesalert.pl.
Washington had threatened to impose sanctions, but they could not apply to entities set up by US allies, such as a local government in Germany, biznesalert.pl reported.
Immune from American punitive measures, the Stiftung Klimaschutz foundation hired a vessel, called the Blue Ship, to help complete the construction of the pipeline, biznesalert.pl said.
Governor accused of aiding Russian interests
This move caused controversy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and an energy crisis in Europe, biznesalert.pl reported.
The authorities of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, including the federal state’s governor Manuela Schwesig, have been accused of "bowing to Russia's influence," according to the Polish website.
A special commission has been established in the German parliament to investigate the matter, biznesalert.pl reported.
Thursday is day 365 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: biznesalert.pl, cicero.de