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The issue of masks within the Union is reaching a critical point. According to a report, a former member of the CDU of the Bundestag is suspected of having earned almost one million euros in commission.
In the Union affair on businesses with protective crown masks, the investigations have taken on new dimensions. The Bavarian Public Prosecutor’s Office has for the first time obtained an arrest warrant against a defendant who is obviously not a politician. In Thuringia, meanwhile, former Bundestag CDU member Mark Hauptmann is under investigation on suspicion of bribery of elected officials. According to a report by “Spiegel”, the politician is suspected of having collected a commission of almost one million euros with offers of masks.
Officials from the State Criminal Police Office on Thursday searched the former district offices of the politician and several district offices of the CDU in Thuringia, as announced by the Thuringia prosecutor. Hauptmann’s office in the Bundestag and his home in Thuringia and Brandenburg were also registered, as well as a company in the Frankfurt am Main area.
“High amount in six-digit euros”
The company is said to have paid the politician money to negotiate business with protective crown masks. This is “a high six-digit euro amount”, according to the investigating authority. According to the “Spiegel” report, Hauptmann is said to have billed 997,000 euros through a company he founded for brokerage activities, which was actually paid by the company. The company is also under investigation, on suspicion of bribery of elected officials.
The Higher Regional Court of Thuringia had the account in which the payment of the alleged commission, which is supposed to correspond exactly to the amount of the invoice, is frozen, reported the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. Hauptmann had previously denied in an interview with a newspaper that he had received money for mediation. He had also signed a declaration of honor from the Union. It is said that he brought the masks to the districts of Thuringia, among others. The presumption of innocence still applies. Hauptmann’s attorney has so far not commented on the new reports.
The “Spiegel” writes that Hauptmann may have generated sales of 7.5 million euros for the company in Frankfurt. Researchers do not yet know which customers medical accessories of this size were sold to. However, in an email, Hauptmann is said to have announced that “the federal government and the larger hospital chains” had also asked the Frankfurt company.
Nüßlein and Sauter were tainted?
In the Bavarian trial, among others, former State Justice Minister Alfred Sauter (CSU) and Bundestag member Georg Nüßlein, who has since left the CSU, are investigated on suspicion of corruption. As a spokesman for the attorney general explained Thursday, the arrest warrant that has now been issued is not directed against Sauter or Nüßlein.
The investigation is also ongoing here on suspicion of corruption and bribery of elected officials. It is about the suspicion that Nüßlein and the Bavarian deputy of the state parliament Sauter allowed themselves to be defamed for mediating contracts for respiratory masks to the public sector in the crisis of the Crown. Both have denied the allegations. The other three defendants in the trial are two businessmen and a tax advisor. Investigators did not provide further information on who the arrest warrant was issued against.
The prosecution had obtained the arrest warrant on Wednesday “for an urgent suspicion and the existence of a reason for arrest” at the Higher Regional Court of Munich, and on Thursday the suspect was arrested. In addition, the Public Ministry, according to its own statements, has “initiated measures to safeguard assets on a large scale.”
The masks issue plunges the Union into a crisis
The preliminary investigation against Hauptmann, 36, has been carried out since last Saturday, a day after Hauptmann left the Bundestag. The trigger was the lobbying allegations, as a result of which the mask shops became known. “We assure the investigators of our unrestricted support,” said Thuringia CDU General Secretary Christian Herrgott.
The so-called mask affair has plunged the Union parties into a deep crisis. Former member of the CDU of the Bundestag, Nikolas Löbel, also received a commission for a mask business. He has since resigned from the CDU and has resigned from his parliamentary term. Due to the matter, the CDU and the CSU want to tighten the transparency rules for parliamentarians.
