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Journalists’ organizations criticize the federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU), for his dealings with representatives of the press who investigate his private real estate transactions. Through his lawyers, Spahn had asked the land registry of the Schöneberg district court to hand over names and inquiries of journalists from “Spiegel”, “Bild”, “Stern” and Tagesspiegel, among others. The land registry followed suit.
“Both are not possible,” said the federal president of the German Association of Journalists, Frank Überall, “an urgent authority and a minister who is shameful to keep private real estate transactions in the seven-figure range under the covers.”
As a member of the federal government, which is in the public eye like no other department head due to the corona pandemic, Spahn has to put up with the media investigation. The federal president of the German Union of Journalists, Tina Groll, considers it “disturbing” that Spahn apparently had representatives of the press investigated. “A federal minister must respect and respect freedom of the press and the task of the press to report critically.”
“Who is it?”
The fact that Spahn had information collected through media representatives arises from a letter from his lawyers to the Schöneberg District Court in December 2020, which is available to the Tagesspiegel.
The land registry is assigned to the district court and manages the archives of the minister’s private property, including purchase agreements.
According to the letter, Spahn’s lawyers request that all correspondence with the Tagesspiegel and “any other press correspondence” with the corresponding official response be delivered. Spahn specifically wanted to know the names of the press representatives who asked him about his two apartments in Schöneberg and the villa in Dahlem that he had acquired last year (“Who is it?”).
The reason for Spahn’s letter was a report by Tagesspiegel
As reported, the minister is doing his best to ensure that the multi-million euro price tag on the Dahlem property he bought together with his spouse Daniel Funke is not publicly discussed. He insists that it is a private matter. The Hamburg district court recently confirmed a request for an injunction against the Tagesspiegel. The Tagesspiegel has appealed against the sentence.
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However, the reason for the letter in December was a report from Tagesspiegel about the purchase of an apartment to former pharmaceutical manager Markus Leyck Dieken, whom Spahn later brought to the head of the largely federal company Gematik GmbH. Gematik aims to promote digitization in the healthcare sector. When the agreement was known, the minister was criticized by the four opposition factions in the Bundestag. Spahn now wanted to know in detail from the land registry what information about the real estate business, which at that time cost almost a million euros, was communicated to the Tagesspiegel.
The district court apparently complies with all the demands
Apparently, Spahn’s lawyers had already approached the district court after press reports surfaced about the purchase of the Dahlem villa. According to a letter from the local court, the court sent “copies of the email inquiries of the newspaper report ‘Bild’ (…), the journalist’s request for inspection from ‘Business Insider Deutschland GmbH’ (…) correspondent from the newspaper ‘Der Tagesspiegel’ ”the minister and his lawyers.
The December inquiries about the Schöneberg apartments were also addressed: “The attached copies contain all inquiries from press representatives that have been received to date, together with response letters,” read a new court communication dated 22 January 2021 to Spahn Law Firm. The correspondence is expressly referred to as “Star”, “Tagesspiegel” and “Spiegel”.
His client doesn’t do any “research,” says Spahn’s attorney.
The minister denies having wanted to investigate the press investigation with these measures. Spahn’s lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, explained that his client did not carry out any “investigation” but only made use of his right “to see which third parties and for what reason” had access to the land registry. Spahn has this right as owner and does not interfere with freedom of the press.
In addition, the minister is now making accusations against the cadastre: the district court “committed serious legal violations” when it delivered the requested information to the press. This should be “checked”. The indictment allegedly relates, among other things, to the express official confirmation of the purchase price of the Dahlem property.
How did the investigation get into the archives?
However, the legal basis on which email correspondence related to the ongoing investigation by representatives of the press reached the cadastre archives also remains open. So far, the Schöneberg District Court has left a request to this effect unanswered.
The Federal Constitutional Court cautions that landlords should be careful when informing landlords about requests for information from the press: in its research, the press often relies on the collection of individual pieces of information in various fields as a mosaic, according to a decision on the right to inspect the cadastre of 2000 (Az .: 1 BvR 1307/91). “If you investigated suspected disapproved behavior and the land registry had to inform the recipient of the suspicion of your investigation, the success of the investigation could be permanently compromised. Otherwise, the recipient of your investigation could take” countermeasures. “
