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The trade union mask affair has further consequences: Former Bundestag member Mark Hauptmann, suspected of corruption, has resigned from the CDU. This was announced by the regional association CDU Thuringia. Prior to this, the country’s chief Christian Hirte and the board of directors said they had asked Hauptmann to leave the party.
The Thuringian Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the former Bundestag member on suspicion of bribery of mandate-holders in connection with the mask business. On Thursday, the defendant’s homes, his Bundestag office and several CDU district offices in southern Thuringia were searched.
The prosecution sees indications that Hauptmann received commission payments from a company in connection with the mediation of the mask business through a company he founded. According to information from SPIEGEL, Hauptmann received around one million euros in commission for managing the mask business.
The Thuringia CDU had recently announced that it would make a controversial donation from a company to the Suhl district association, which had apparently supplied the Hauptmann protective crown masks to the districts after mediation.
Another research topic is Hauptmann’s alleged commitment to the interests of Azerbaijan, Vietnam and Taiwan. In the Hauptmann postil constituency »Südthüringen Kurier«, praise articles about Azerbaijan, Vietnam and Taiwan were repeatedly published, adorned with paid advertisements from these countries.
In the eyes of investigators, Hauptmann has another legal problem. Since mid-2017, he has been organizing the ads himself. In this way, he guaranteed the agency that produced the newspaper a minimum rotation with advertisements. He got himself an electoral newspaper for this without having to invest his own money.
So far, according to information from SPIEGEL, there have been announcements from Azerbaijan for 16,744 euros, Taiwan for 24,000 euros and Vietnam for 12,620 euros. Makes a total of 53,000 euros. From a legal point of view, this could also have been a bribe, according to investigators.
“We guarantee the investigators our unrestricted support,” said Thuringia CDU General Secretary Christian Herrgott. “Transparency and clarification was our goal from the beginning.” Herrgott noted that the state party acted immediately after the allegations against Hauptmann became known and, among other things, verified the donations of the CDU party in all district associations in Thuringia in recent years.
Hauptmann had also distanced himself from Union politicians Georg Nüßlein (CSU) and Nikolas Löbel (CDU), who each earned six-figure commissions for brokerage activities in protective mask businesses. Hauptmann said it had nothing to do with the “possible illegal actions of his colleagues.”
