The state parliament officially decided on Wednesday to set up a committee of inquiry into the mask affair. The parliamentary groups of CSU, Free Voters and AfD also voted in favor of the application by the SPD, FDP and the Greens. The committee is due to begin this week and shed light on both the state government’s mask business in the Corona crisis and the possible involvement of parliamentarians. “Because for a deal you always need two: a member of parliament who knocks and a ministry that approves the deal,” said Florian Siekmann, deputy leader of the Greens.
The list of questions for the committee of inquiry also contains questions that deal with orders and contracts concluded in the years before the pandemic. The CSU, which is at the center of the mask affair, announced that it would support the investigation. “People do not understand that individual elected officials have enriched themselves in the pandemic,” said CSU vice-parliamentary group leader Winfried Bausback, who will head the committee.
By late Tuesday evening, the state parliament had adopted stricter rules of conduct for MPs – also a consequence of the mask affair. Only the AfD parliamentary group and the former Justice Minister Alfred Sauter, who played a central role in the affair and has since left the CSU parliamentary group, voted against the draft law. Sauter is said to have received around 1.2 million euros for brokering mask shops. However, this should not have any criminal consequences. The Munich Higher Regional Court declared in November that the offense of bribery and bribery of elected officials had not been fulfilled. Sauter had also always denied such allegations.
The rules that have now been adopted include a ban on paid lobbying for MPs. In addition, they will have to disclose their income from secondary activities from the first euro onwards, as well as company investments from three percent instead of the previous 25 percent. In the future, MPs will also be prohibited from giving lectures for a fee if they are related to their mandate. These and other rules come into force on April 1, 2022.