Bundestag introduces stricter rules for bribery

After allegations in the course of so-called mask deals, members of the Bundestag went unpunished. Now the current law has been tightened. In the future, “impermissible representation of interests” could result in up to three years in prison.

Bribery and corruption of members of parliament should be punished more severely in the future – this is what the Bundestag has decided. Accordingly, MPs who use their position and the prestige of their mandate to exercise influence for money, for example over ministries, are liable to prosecution. They and their clients now face a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine.

Specifically, the Bundestag decided – with votes from the traffic light factions and the AfD – to add an additional paragraph 108f (“inadmissible perception of interests”) to the criminal code. Its rules also apply to members of state parliaments and the European Parliament as well as to members of the parliamentary assembly of an international organization.

Today’s decision is a consequence of the so-called mask scandals during the corona pandemic. The Left group abstained from the vote. The same goes for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group: Some of the wording is too vague, they say.

Previous criminal liability was more closely related to the mandate

The criminal code previously only provided for penalties if members of parliament received money or other benefits for certain behavior in the exercise of their mandate, for example for a speech or specific voting behavior in the Bundestag. Criminal liability is now being extended to cases that have nothing to do with the actual work in parliament.

With their initiative, the SPD, Greens and FDP also responded to the so-called mask scandals of former CSU representatives. In the early phase of the corona pandemic, they brokered mask deals for the state and received millions in commission for doing so. Despite later investigations into suspicion of bribery, they could not be punished for this under the current legal situation. The traffic light parties had therefore agreed to tighten the law in their coalition agreement.