Subscribe to our channel! rupt.ly/subscribe Members of the German parliament acting as committee representatives in the Wirecard AG investigation gave statements to the press, before Chancellor Angela Merkel was interrogated on the matter in Berlin on Monday. German lawmakers are probing the collapse of the financial payments organisation Wirecard. "I do think it's a problem when at the end of a scandal €20 million ($24.1 million) turned into confetti overnight," remarked Wirecard investigation committee representative for The Left party Fabio de Masi. Merkel has been accused of promoting investment in the fraudulent organisation during state visits to China. "Today, the federal chancellor will have to answer why she lobbied the mightiest man in China for an enterprise, after she cancelled the only appointment with the CEO of Wirecard because of concerns about some things stinking in that house," explained De Masi. The interrogations are part of a parliamentary inquiry into the huge amounts of fraud the company is alleged to have committed. On Thursday, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was also part of interrogations and questioning. "Of course you cannot blame the federal chancellor directly. I expect a federal chancellor to support German interests and the interests of German enterprises in foreign countries, this is needless to say. But, this happened at a time when critical reports about Wirecard were already piling up and more sensitivity was needed. That is why the federal chancellor didn't cover herself in glory and didn't appropriately represent the image of the federal Republic of Germany in foreign countries either," stated Wirecard investigation committee representative for the Green party Danyal Bayaz. Wirecard, whose former CEO, COO, along with a number of other executives, have been arrested or implicated in criminal proceedings, announced last June that €1.9 billion ($2.23 billion) in cash was missing. Founded in 1999, Wirecard was one of Germany's top 30 companies with nearly 6,000 employees in 26 countries around the world. SOT, Fabio de Masi, Wirecard investigation committee representative for The Left party (German): "I do think it's a problem when at the end of a scandal €20 million ($24.1 million) turned into confetti overnight, this was the stock exchange value of Wirecard, more than €20 million ($24.1 million). When many small investors lose their life savings, someone has to accept the political responsibility." SOT, Fabio de Masi, Wirecard investigation committee representative for The Left party (German): "Today, the federal Chancellor will have to answer why she lobbied the mightiest man in China for an enterprise, after she cancelled the only appointment with the CEO of Wirecard because of concerns about some things stinking in that house. But, she still travelled to China to talk about Wirecard with the mightiest man there." SOT, Fabio de Masi, Wirecard investigation committee representative for The Left party (German): "I am not naive. I know that you don't speak with the mightiest man in China about ten or 15 topics, but only about two or three. And if Wirecard is one of those, then you have to explain why it had this much importance for the federal Chancellor." SOT, Jens Zimmermann, Wirecard investigation committee representative for the Social Democratic Party (German): "Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg (Former German minister of economics and energy) is completely what people say about him, an imposter, a show-off. And, he wasn't ashamed of pulling his former boss, the chancellor into this. He invited himself to her, and pushed her to support Wirecard to the mightiest man of the world in China." SOT, Danyal Bayaz, Wirecard investigation committee representative for the Green party (German): "The success of the lobby machine surrounding Wirecard peaked with the lobbying of the chancellor when she actively supported a criminal organisation like Wirecard during her China travels." SOT, D...