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Potsdam (dpa / bb) - Brandenburg's Environment Minister Axel Vogel says he has confidence in the US electric car manufacturer Tesla despite the temporary laying of pipes without a permit.

"Above all, I have confidence that Tesla's quality management has often improved," said the Green politician on Wednesday in the state parliament in Potsdam.

In response to a question from Left MP Christian Görke, the minister commented that Tesla had laid underground pipes without a permit.

Vogel pointed out that it should have been an error by Tesla.

According to company sources, the car manufacturer assumed that the laying of underground lines above the groundwater level would be covered by an early approval from July 2020.

The relocation was discovered in March during an inspection in the Oder-Spree district.

Early approval followed in April.

The minister said the work could only have taken a few days.

He was convinced that the relocation would not have gone undetected for several weeks without approval through regular checks.

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The parliamentary group on the left pointed out that Tesla had started stress testing for stakes last year, despite the lack of the necessary approval. "Tesla has obviously and repeatedly built without a permit - and the environment minister does not react indignantly, but protects the company against criticism," criticized left-wing parliamentary group leader Sebastian Walter.

The left-wing parliamentary group applied to the Ministry of the Environment for inspection of the files, according to its own statements.

According to the ministry, documents for the application for approval of the factory will likely have to be publicly reinterpreted because Tesla wants to add a battery factory to it.

This threatens a delay in the start of production.

So far, there is no environmental permit for the car factory from the country.

"Ironically, the new design was announced just one day after Tesla had submitted its official stock exchange announcement for the first quarter," said Goerke.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210428-99-391255 / 2