So far 44 meetings with a total time of 240 hours, 150 witness statements, almost 3500 digitized files with more than two million sheets of paper – the Mask Inquiry Committee is nearing its official end. The aim of the committee was to shed light on the mask procurement by government agencies, participation of politicians and sometimes high commissions, which appeared chaotic at the beginning of the Corona period. Committee chairman Winfried Bausback (CSU) presented his draft for the final report on Thursday, and it will be voted on the week after next. For him, the taking of evidence made it clear that the acquisitions were made in accordance with the law, free of partisan considerations or politically motivated instructions. There was “no favouritism, no favours, favours, or favours.” Allegations of the opposition about felt and nepotism were “clearly refuted”.
There was “no blueprint” for the early Corona period, explained Bausback. The state government acted consistently to protect and save human lives. Initially, the users in the healthcare system in Bavaria alone would have needed 21 million masks a month; every hint was welcome. Those were also “times of knights of fortune”. Bausback expressly criticized the “misconduct” of three people: Alfred Sauter, member of the state parliament, who has since left the CSU parliamentary group, Georg Nüßlein, who withdrew from the Bundestag, and the “private individual” Andrea Tandler, daughter of the former CSU minister Gerold Tandler. These would have enriched themselves “in a morally reprehensible way” from the need.
Sauter and Nüßlein had collected lavish fees for arranging masks, according to their own statements as lawyers, not as politicians. The Federal Court of Justice saw the offense of bribery as not fulfilled due to a lack of legislation. Tandler, who received more than 48 million euros in commissions from deals with the federal and state governments with a partner, is in custody on allegations of tax evasion. Your appearance in the U-Committee 2022 will be remembered as a curiosity – masked with a cap, sunglasses and mask.
Bausback sees the behavior of the three people “in stark contrast to the very widespread willingness to help” at the time. He also emphasized that no indication was found that Monika Hohlmeier “knew anything about commission in the background”. The CSU MEP had practically opened the door to the Ministry of Health for Tandler via SMS. According to Bausback, decisions about purchases have always been appropriate. This also applies to a mask offer from the company of Karin Baumüller-Söder, the wife of the Prime Minister. A contract did not come about.
Also on Thursday, the deputy committee chief Florian Siekmann (Greens) shared his interpretation of the work of the committee. “The CSU parliamentary group wants to sweep the swamp of masks under the table,” an “election campaign maneuver.” The committee uncovered “Amigo deals and haggling,” and Tandler’s and Sauter’s deals were “the result of blind trust in tangled CSU structures.” Siekmann announced its own comprehensive final report.