Prime Minister Luc Frieden said he only became aware of the financial regulator’s €4.97 million fine against state-owned bank Spuerkeess at the end of July, when the sanction was made public – more than two months after the bank had informed Finance Minister Giles Roth of the fine.
“There are many public institutions, there are many procedures, and thank God not all of them end up on the prime minister’s desk,” Frieden told RTL following a hearing of the finance committee in parliament on Monday.
MP Marc Baum had raised the question in parliament whether Frieden knew about the CSSF fine when he appeared in front of the Caritas special committee on 19 May.
In August responding to the question Finance Minister Roth had said that he been made aware of the fine on 2 May. But, as Frieden disclosed, he did not inform the prime minister.
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“And that is also normal; until the decision is made, because there are also possibilities to appeal,” said Frieden.
There were some indications of an impending fine as early as February, said opposition LSAP MP Taina Bofferding, adding that it was odd the government did not discuss this.
“That means it wasn’t an issue in all the government councils in the meantime. That’s difficult to understand. Perhaps it was also convenient for him not to know,” said Bofferding after the meeting on Monday.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translated using AI, edited by Kabir Agarwal)
