Advisor affair in the Minister of Defense: von der Leyen becomes a case for the committee of inquiry

The day started badly for Ursula von der Leyen. In the morning the Minister received a text message from Andrea Nahles. In it, the SPD leader announced soberly that her group could not agree to a presentation of the Ministry of Defense to the budget increase for the Bundeswehr subsidiary BWI in the Bundestag. The IT service provider should get a good 500 million more for the next few years, around 20 million of which should be spent on external business consultants.

Actually, according to the Leyens plan, the Budget Committee should have approved the additional funds this Wednesday. But the coalition factions removed the motion from the agenda. This year, there is nothing left with the much-needed money at BWI, all because of the raging discussion over weeks about the excessive use of advisers in the Ministry of Defense, because of uncovered procurement law violations to the suspicion of nepotism.

But it got even worse for the CDU politician. On Wednesday morning, for more than four hours, the Defense Committee discussed the consultant affair. In the end, the three opposition representatives came with a very clear message in front of the door: The affair can only be cleared up by a committee of inquiry, until January 2019, they will set up a timetable, then it should start.

The committee, the Parliament's strongest weapon, is to investigate the use of external experts for a three-digit million amount under Defense Minister von der Leyen.

The affair was triggered in August by a SPIEGEL report, which made public for the first time allegations of the Federal Court of Auditors. At that time the auditors had examined the efficiency and lawfulness of the consultant employment in the ministry and discovered at the same time several legal infractions.

Since then several complexes with ample oddities have been discovered. It is about violations of public procurement law, because the Ministry for consultancy contracts in the tens of millions used framework agreements of the federal government, which were not suitable for it. There are allegations of wasting tax revenues through grants to specific companies and, in one case, even nepotism in the room.

The events, most of which have become known only through obstinate research by the Court of Auditors, are a scandal for the opposition. "Mrs. von der Leyen has completely lost control of her house," said Tobias Lindner of the Greens. "One gets the impression that the ministry under Mrs. von der Leyen has become the self-service shop of the consultant industry," revolted his left-colleague Alexander Neu. FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said: "In the Ministry of Ms von der Leyen, there seems to have been a lack of sense of what works and what does not."

Von der Leyen had tried to avert a committee of inquiry to the affair. She admitted mistakes right at the beginning, took responsibility and set up new supervisory bodies. At the same time she defended the use of the consultants for their reforms. Also on Wednesday, she emphasized once again, especially with regard to digitization there is "considerable pent-up demand" and time pressure, which is why external expertise is indispensable.

Secretary of State Suder stayed away from special session

But now Leyen will have to face a small tribunal. With the votes of the three opposition factions Green, Left and FDP, the committee is certainly deployed, can request extensive files and like a court to summon witnesses and take oath. When it comes to defense, the technical committee is transformed into a committee of inquiry, because files and witnesses are security-relevant. Personally, both committees are identical.

The main focus of the investigation should be the question of why Leyen, known as risk manager, admitted that under her leadership consultancy contracts amounting to up to 20 million euros were awarded in violation of the competition law. Did the minister and her then state secretary Katrin Suder give her apparatus a free hand?

In some cases, SPIEGEL research had even fueled the suspicion that ministry staff were assigning orders to friendly advisers and intentionally bypassing public procurement law. What is remarkable about the case is that even the management level knew about the close ties between the then planning director and the consultants, but nobody intervened.

The role Katrin Suders, until her change one of the executives at the consulting giant McKinsey, is probably also well studied. Although there is no evidence that Suder shoved orders to her old company. As Secretary of State for Arms, however, she was also responsible for ensuring that other consultancy projects were handled properly.

DPA

Katrin Suder

Indirectly, Suder had even promoted the establishment of the committee. A non-binding invitation from the opposition, the ex-Secretary had already rejected on Monday and instead insisted on written questions. In the opposition representatives caused this annoyance, but strengthened the will to create harder bandages now.

In recent weeks, the ministry has said more and more frequently that Leyen and Suder had set such tight time limits for reform projects that in the end they could only be planned and executed by external consultants. For the committee, the question remains whether they were deliberately keeping their own apparatus from thousands of officials in the Ministry out of important events.

The Minister herself endeavored after the decision for serenity. To set up a committee of inquiry was "the absolute right of the parliament", said of the Leyen after the end of the meeting. But she and her team also know that the committee's research will demand more of their ministry's ministry over the next few months than any other topic.