The Munich PR entrepreneur Andrea Tandler, who has become very rich with mask deals, is not only being investigated because of the allegation of tax evasion. According to information from Süddeutsche Zeitung Proceedings are also underway at the Munich I public prosecutor’s office on suspicion that the daughter of CSU grandee Gerold Tandler committed subsidy fraud in the state corona aid. It’s about 9000 euros; by an amount that seems negligible compared to the mask commissions. Andrea Tandler has been in custody since last week. She has always denied all allegations.
In May 2020, Tandler had claimed 9,000 euros in state aid for its Munich PR agency Pfennigturm. The entrepreneur had just become a millionaire with the mask deals she brokered. By the end of 2020, the PR entrepreneur and a partner collected a total of 48 million euros in commission for transactions by the Swiss trading company Emix with several health ministries in Germany, including Bavaria. The first commission payments were received in spring 2020.
But that didn’t stop Andrea Tandler from collecting the Corona aid she requested at the end of March/beginning of April 2020. According to a guideline from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs dated April 3, 2020 (“Corona emergency aid, especially for small companies and the self-employed”), the 9,000 euros was the maximum amount for small companies with up to five employees in need. At the time, Andrea Tandler reportedly claimed that she had lost customers and orders at her PR agency Pfennigturm due to the poor economic situation after the beginning of the pandemic.
The PR entrepreneur paid back the 9,000 euros, allegedly without being asked
The city of Munich then approved the 9,000 euros in Corona aid, which was paid out in the second week of May 2020 and transferred to an account held by the PR entrepreneur. The aid for companies in need came partly from the federal government; A corresponding program was handled by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the municipalities, including the city of Munich.
Andrea Tandler only paid back the 9,000 euros in Corona aid, which she no longer needed, in May 2021. Tandler did this “unsolicited”, said a spokesman for the PR entrepreneur in May 2022 when the SZ found out about the state corona aid and reported on it. What is new now is that the public prosecutor assumes subsidy fraud and accuses Andrea Tandler of deliberately and untruthfully concealing her mask commission from the state.
Subsidy fraud is punishable by a fine or imprisonment. This applies, for example, to “incomplete information” given to the competent authority. The repayment would not stand in the way of this, but would merely be compensation for the damage. For Andrea Tandler, however, the presumption of innocence applies until a possible conviction.