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Berlin (dpa) - In the Union's mask affair, the deadline for the parliamentary group leadership to submit a kind of declaration of honor expires today.
Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt had asked the 245 Union parliamentarians on Wednesday to declare by then that they had not achieved any financial benefits in connection with the fight against the corona pandemic - neither directly nor through companies.
It was initially unclear when the Union parliamentary group would make the result of the survey public.
Brinkhaus and Dobrindt had written in an email to the MPs that because of the events surrounding the MPs Georg Nüßlein (previously CSU) and Nikolas Löbel (previously CDU), who have since left the parties, they see it as their responsibility to «present such issues in a completely transparent manner to enlighten ».
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The public prosecutor's office is investigating Nüßlein because of the initial suspicion of corruption.
Löbel has admitted that his company has received commissions of around 250,000 euros for brokering purchase contracts for corona protective masks.
The public prosecutor's office checks whether there is sufficient initial suspicion to initiate investigative proceedings.
Both politicians have since left their respective parties.
Löbel resigned from the Bundestag with immediate effect.
Nüßlein no longer wants to run for the Bundestag in the autumn.
After lobbying allegations, the Thuringian CDU politician Mark Hauptmann resigned from his parliamentary mandate on Thursday.
According to a "Spiegel" report, it is, among other things, about advertisements for tourism stays in the authoritarian ruled former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan in the "Südthüringen Kurier" published by Hauptmann.
In an interview with “Welt”, Hauptmann denied having accepted money from foreign agencies.
He also denied having received a commission for arranging corona protective masks.
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" that since the beginning of the pandemic, many MPs had been committed to help - also in contact with the responsible ministries.
"If individual MPs have taken advantage of the emergency to enrich themselves personally, that is simply indecent and incompatible with the mandate."
He added: "This also applies if there is a suspicion that a member of parliament was for sale in the exercise of a mandate in favor of another country."
However, it is important to distinguish between legitimate interest representation and personal enrichment.
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Mathias Middelberg (CDU), domestic policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, warned, according to the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", not to mix up the mask affair with other issues.
“We have to find out who made money from buying masks.
However, this has at best to do with the topics of lobby registers or donations. "
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210312-99-787965 / 4