Scholz takes dim view of raids in German money laundering probe

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that state prosecutors who raided his department in a probe into the government's anti-money laundering agency had straightforward questions that "they could have put in writing".

"People should judge for themselves whether it was right to put (the questions) in a different way," Scholz told reporters on a campaign stop in Potsdam, near the capital Berlin.

Scholz, the chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party in this month's general election, said he had beefed up staffing at the watchdog which he oversees and which is under investigation for suspected lapses in enforcement.