A grilling by Hamburg lawmakers of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over his handling of a multibillion-euro tax fraud when he served as the city's mayor ended in a stalemate on Friday as Scholz denied any impropriety and opposition lawmakers accused him of obfuscating the truth.
Although the 3-1/2-hour hearing yielded no new insights into the "cum-ex" scandal, the fact the case is dragging on threatens to undermine the chancellor, who is struggling to hold his fractious coalition together in the face of public discontent over soaring energy costs.
