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Last spring, masks to protect against the coronavirus were in short supply.
The Federal Ministry of Health and the federal states tried their best to buy the coveted protective materials on the then empty world market.
This triggered a gold rush mood among suppliers - from which some Union politicians also benefited.
They apparently took advantage of the emergency situation to refer suppliers to federal and state governments and to collect some commissions for them.
This plunged the Union into a credibility crisis.
An overview of the mask scandals of the CDU and CSU.
Georg Nüßlein
The Georg Nüßlein case triggered the mask affair in the Union
Source: picture alliance / Geisler-Fotopress
The mask affair began on February 25: the Bundestag lifted the immunity of CSU Bundestag member Georg Nüßlein.
On the same day, his office, his house and eleven other properties in Germany and Liechtenstein were searched.
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The accusation: Nüßlein, former deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, is said to have collected 660,000 euros from a Hessian mask supplier for brokering government contracts through his consulting company.
Customers were both the Federal Ministry of Health and the Bavarian Ministry of Health.
In the latter case, prosecutors investigate the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials.
Nüßlein rejects the allegations.
The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office had already received a request for legal assistance from Liechtenstein in December 2020.
The investigators there had come across a suspicious transfer at a private bank: 660,000 euros in connection with a "politically exposed person".
In Liechtenstein, investigative proceedings were initiated on suspicion of granting or accepting benefits in order to influence the situation.
On March 8, 2021, Nüßlein resigned from the CSU, but he will retain his Bundestag mandate for the time being.
Alfred Sauter
The Bavarian State Parliament member Alfred Sauter (CSU)
Source: picture alliance / dpa
In March it became known that the CSU politician - formerly a member of the Bundestag, now a member of the Bavarian state parliament - had drafted a contract between a mask supplier and the Bavarian Ministry of Justice.
It was about the business for which his party colleague Georg Nüßlein is said to have received the commission of 660,000 euros.
Sauter stated that he did not know anything about the commission.
Earlier he was criticized for having mixed his work as a lawyer with that as a member of parliament.
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According to research by WDR, NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung”, Sauter is also said to have received commissions - in the six-figure range - for brokering mask deals.
The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating him and on March 17th his business premises were searched.
On March 22nd, Sauter resigned from the CSU parliamentary group in the state parliament.
However, he wants to keep his state parliament mandate until the election in autumn 2023.
Nikolas Löbel
Nikolas Löbel (CDU) has meanwhile resigned from his mandate
Source: picture alliance / dpa
At the beginning of March, the CDU MP from Mannheim, Nikolas Löbel, made negative headlines.
As the "Spiegel" first learned, it is said to have demanded and received a commission for arranging protective masks.
A corresponding mail from Löbel is also available to WELT.
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His company apparently collected commissions of around 250,000 euros for brokering purchase contracts for masks between a Baden-Württemberg supplier and two private companies in Heidelberg and Mannheim.
Löbel announced that it was a "remuneration that is customary in the market" for the Projektmanagement-GmbH.
He acted for the GmbH and not in the exercise of his mandate.
As a consequence, Löbel withdrew from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag.
The Mannheim public prosecutor is currently examining whether there is any initial suspicion in order to initiate an investigation against him.
Mark Hauptmann
Mark Hauptmann giving a speech in the Bundestag
Source: picture alliance / Flashpic
Mark Hauptmann, member of the CDU Bundestag, also brokered business with corona protective masks in 2020.
However, he denied having received a commission for it.
In mid-March, however, it became known that a Frankfurt mask supplier had transferred a donation to his CDU district association in January 2021 - in the amount of 7,000 euros.
At that time, the captain was the chairman of the district association.
Hauptmann is also criticized in connection with the Azerbaijan affair of several CDU members of the Bundestag.
In March it became known that he had regularly campaigned politically for the interests of Azerbaijan and Taiwan.
In return, the two countries had apparently placed advertisements in the CDU local newspaper "Südthüringen Kurier" published by Hauptmann.
Editorial contributions on these countries were published there at the same time.
On March 11th, Hauptmann announced that he would resign from the Bundestag with immediate effect.
However, he denied the corruption allegations.
On March 25, the Thuringian Public Prosecutor's Office announced that it would initiate an investigation against Hauptmann in connection with mask business on suspicion of bribery of elected officials.
He then declared his resignation from the party.
Hubert Aiwanger
Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) is responsible for commissioning an auto supplier with expensive mask production
Source: picture alliance / Geisler-Fotopress
The Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) threaded an expensive mask deal with an auto supplier, the Zettl company, at the beginning of the pandemic last spring.
The company had never made such a product before.
The masks now produced did not meet the FFP2 standard, but according to the words of Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), who justified the deal, “on the way to an FFP2 mask”.
Other companies that have been active in the medical sector for years did not get a chance at that time.
Although the masks were not yet approved for the market at that time, Bavaria ordered over a million masks there in March 2020 at the proud price of six euros each.
An internal price comparison from the Federal Ministry of Economics shows: At the end of March 2020, the market price for FFP2 masks was less than five euros.
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The taxpayers' association and Bavarian opposition politicians demanded clarification about how the deal came about.
It was noticeable that the Zettl factory is only 25 kilometers away from Aiwanger's farm.
However, Aiwanger's spokesman said the minister had come across Zettl through a tip from a local district administrator.
Aiwanger and the company's managing director did not know each other before.
Andrea Tandler
Last year, the Swiss company Emix supplied masks at noticeably high prices to the federal government and the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.
According to media reports, the latter are said to have paid up to 9.90 euros per piece for FFP2 masks.
These deals were partly brokered by Andrea Tandler, the daughter of the long-time CSU General Secretary under Franz Josef Strauss, Gerold Tandler.
She personally contacted Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn and supported Emix Trading.
According to media reports, the Strauss subsidiary and CSU MEP Monika Hohlmeier and Interior Secretary Stephan Mayer (CSU) are said to have campaigned for the Swiss company.
Bavaria's Ministry of Health rejected the allegations of having bought at overpriced prices.
Niels Korte
According to research by WELT, the CDU politician, who is running for the Bundestag, negotiated with the federal government last year to purchase 20 million protective masks.
Contract value: 90 million euros.
The lawyer Korte, a former member of the Berlin House of Representatives, was one of two shareholders in the company Areal Invest, from which the federal government bought these masks.
On April 2, 2020, he contacted his party colleague Jens Spahn directly by e-mail because there were apparently problems threading the mask deal.
Korte met today's Minister of Health in 2011 during a joint discussion about the shortage of doctors.
Spahn's house was generous despite various problems with the mask deliveries, and the deal came off.
In the meantime, however, there is a legal dispute between Areal Invest and the Federal Ministry of Health.
It's about the quality of the masks delivered.