Berlin (dpa-AfX)-In the affair about the procurement of Corona masks by the former Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU), the Union’s SPD accuses a “dirt campaign”. The Union runs the Union against investigator Margaretha Sudhof, and the SPD health politician Christos Pantazis said on the verge of a meeting of the health committee of the Bundestag.
On behalf of Spahn’s successor Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Sudhof had examined the mass procurement of masks in the high phase of pandemic. In doing so, she found that Spahn had masks on an enormous scope and often at high prices against the council of specialist officers, which were then sometimes not used.
Opposition wants committee of inquiry
Immediately before Sudhof’s survey by the committee members, Pantazis was optimistic about new knowledge. Upon request, the SPD MP did not rule out approval for an investigation committee on the matter. The establishment of an investigation committee has been challenged by the left and the Greens for a long time. The SPD had initially closed itself, with the AfD the other opposition factions did not want to use such a body.
The CDU MP Simone Borchardt confirmed Union criticism to Sudhof’s report. The investigator failed to ask the Minister Spahn at the time. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had also criticized this. Borchardt expressed doubts about the rule of law of such a procedure. Sudhof did not want to publicly comment on the allegations and referred to their survey by the MPs.
The green health expert Janosch Dahmen said after the meeting: “This scandal is not done, it continues to grow every day and becomes a dangerous credibility trap for Spahn and the Union.” The fact that the SPD no longer excludes an investigation committee is a turning point. Only such a committee could question witnesses under oath and secure evidence ./bw/dp/men