Shares, gold, an expensive property and much more, this is how the Munich PR entrepreneur Andrea Tandler invested her fortune after becoming a millionaire two years ago. Shortly after the start of the pandemic, the daughter of CSU grandee Gerold Tandler arranged corona protective masks and, together with a partner, collected the incredible sum of 48.3 million euros. Now the Tandler daughter is supposed to give up and donate part of her sudden wealth. This is what Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) suggests in a statement at the request of the Süddeutsche Zeitung at.
Holetschek writes that it is “dishonest if someone wants to enrich themselves in a crisis like this”. That’s why “Ms. Tandler should consider donating part of her million-dollar profit to a good cause.” For example, in favor of care or “for children and young people who suffer from Long Covid”. There are many very valuable initiatives that are directly related to Corona, writes Bavaria’s Minister of Health.
Andrea Tandler brokered deals with the health ministries in Bavaria, in North Rhine-Westphalia and above all in the federal government for the Swiss trading company Emix in Germany and used CSU channels for this. In this way, Emix managed to sell masks and other corona protective clothing for more than 700 million euros. The Tandler subsidiary, together with its partner Darius N., received commissions totaling 48 million euros from Emix. Ultimately, the money comes from taxes.
Minister Holetschek writes that if press reports are correct that “someone like Ms. Tandler” went home with a commission worth millions during this time, “then I have absolutely no understanding”. Holetschek explains that he cannot and does not want to judge this legally. But he encourages donations. No CSU politician has done that before him. And otherwise, the ruling party has so far been reluctant to criticize the millions in commissions as clearly as the Minister of Health is now expressing.
Andrea Tandler and her business partner have been invited to the U-Committee
According to the information available to the SZ, of the 48 million euros in commissions in 2020, minus costs and taxes, 36 million euros were left at that time. Andrea Tandler and her partner Darius N. shared the fortune and invested it in their own companies. Andrea Tandler, whose father was once CSU general secretary and minister, has been silent since her role in the mask deals became known. She does not give interviews and does not express herself otherwise. For April 29, the Tandler daughter and her partner N. have been invited as witnesses to the state parliament’s mask investigation committee. There, however, the two can refuse to testify because they are being investigated in a tax and money laundering process. The two deny all allegations.
Holetschek takes the Tandler case as an opportunity to comment on the situation after the pandemic began. It was an “absolute exceptional situation” with a “deadly threat” from the corona virus. Protective material was missing. The health authorities and also the Ministry of Health therefore worked hard and unselfishly day and night to protect people. Thousands of overtime hours were accumulated and “far above-average work was done up to the health limit and sometimes beyond”. In many publications today, however, “you cannot read about gratitude and recognition, but almost only about scandal and swamp”.
The Minister of Health combines this with a criticism that can be understood as a tip against the opposition, which pushed through the mask investigation committee in the state parliament. While action was being taken in the health administration and lives were being saved, those who “now try to scandalize the loudest have waited, watched and trusted” that the state government, the health authorities and many honest entrepreneurs would procure the necessary protective masks. “This behavior is absolutely inappropriate and dubious,” writes Holetschek.
On the one hand, the Greens, SPD and FDP, as the driving forces in the U-Committee, should not let this criticism go unchallenged. On the other hand, it is conceivable that Holetschek’s call for donations to Andrea Tandler will be discussed in the sub-committee if the Munich entrepreneur and her partner N. arrive there in a week as planned. The two Emix owners from Zurich are also invited as witnesses. As Swiss citizens, the two do not have to appear before a German investigative committee.