SPD against CSU, the Social Democratic state and parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn against the MEP and Strauss daughter Monika Hohlmeier and against the Christian Social General Secretary Stephan Mayer: This duel has been held by the investigative authorities in Munich for many months. The occasion is the mask affairs of the CSU. Now there is a big loser in this duel: Brunn and his SPD. And clear winners: Hohlmeier, Mayer and the CSU.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office recently dismissed a criminal complaint that Brunn filed last year against Hohlmeier and Mayer for embezzling tax funds. The public prosecutor’s office in Munich I had previously rejected the ad. Brunn accused the CSU people of ensuring that the Bavarian Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health, then headed by Jens Spahn (CDU), bought many millions of masks and other corona protective clothing from the Swiss trading company Emix at inflated prices.
SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn accused the CSU politicians of criminal activities, also because “criminal experience, especially in Bavarian politics,” speaks for it.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
Brunn garnished his allegations by pointing out that “criminalistic experience, especially in Bavarian politics” speaks for the principle: “manus manum lavat” – one hand washes the other. The expensive contracts between the ministries and Emix, which were initiated through CSU contacts, only came about because of political advocacy. The Attorney General denies that. Mere assumptions or “purely theoretical possibilities” are not sufficient for the suspicion of a crime and investigations.
The General Prosecutor’s Office agrees with a fundamental tip from the Munich I Public Prosecutor’s Office. This particularly noteworthy reference reads: With his assumptions, Brunn places “all politically active persons, including all members of parliament, under the inadmissible general suspicion of only taking action in exchange for cash payments”. This refers to the suspicion of the SPD state and parliamentary group leader that Hohlmeier could have received financial support for the Emix deals. This is because Hohlmeier had initiated contacts with the health ministries. Brunn suspected that the fact that no money had flowed was “unrealistic”.
The mask deals went like this: The Swiss company Emix had hired the Munich entrepreneur Andrea Tandler as an intermediary, the daughter of the CSU grandee Gerold Tandler. This turned to the Strauss daughter Monika Hohlmeier; both families have been friends for decades. Hohlmeier, in turn, put Andrea Tandler in touch with the Bavarian Ministry of Health and Federal Minister of Health Spahn.
Andrea Tandler also turned to the sister of Mayer, who was then State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and is now CSU General Secretary. With the question of whether “Stephan” can think of anyone who needs masks. “Thank you and kisses.” In the end, Andrea Tandler and a partner from Emix collected 48 million euros in brokerage commissions.
The Munich I public prosecutor’s office looked at all of this and is investigating the suspicion of money laundering against the Tandler subsidiary. The investigating authority suspects that officials should be bribed with part of the 48 million euros so that expensive mask deals can be made. Andrea Tandler rejects this; no corresponding cash flows have been found to date.
The Munich I public prosecutor’s suspicion of bribery is expressly not directed against the Bavarian Ministry of Health, nor against Hohlmeier and Mayer. And not against Emix either. And the Munich public prosecutor’s office now sees it the same way as the Munich I public prosecutor’s office. They noted that Andrea Tandler and Monika Hohlmeier had “obviously been personally close since they were young.” This close relationship rather speaks against financial support for Hohlmeier. “Support without consideration” is more likely than among strangers.
The CSU MEP Monika Hohlmeier always emphasized that she had not received any money from Andrea Tandler. The Attorney General’s Office sees it that way too.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
In addition, the CSU MP Hohlmeier had submitted her SMS traffic with Andrea Tandler to the Munich I public prosecutor’s office after the first media reports about this mask business. From the point of view of the investigative authority, that speaks for Hohlmeier. The CSU politicians themselves say they didn’t ask for any money and didn’t get any either. And she didn’t know anything about the millions in commission for Andrea Tandler. The public prosecutor’s office has not found any cash flows to Hohlmeier. And passing on contact details in a situation when there was an acute need for masks to protect the population from damage to health is no reason for investigations. Writes the prosecutor.
With today’s CSU General Secretary Mayer, the realization is also that there is “no starting point for criminal behavior”. The fact that the Attorney General agrees with this vote by the Munich I Public Prosecutor certainly has nothing to do with wanting to do the CSU a favour. The senior public prosecutor responsible, who is now closing the Hohlmeier and Mayer files, is a persistent investigator. He is consistently taking action in the Attorney General’s Office against Alfred Sauter, a member of the state parliament and longtime CSU mastermind, and Georg Nüßlein, a former CSU member of the Bundestag. They had cashed in on other mask deals.
The Munich public prosecutor would like to bring Sauter and Nüßlein to court. Because they would have allowed themselves to be bribed as MPs. Sauter and Nüßlein reject this. At best, an indictment could fail due to the inadequate anti-bribery paragraphs. But not because of the will of the chief public prosecutor, who takes care of Sauter and Nüßlein at the general public prosecutor’s office.