It started with an investigation against the CSU member of the Bundestag Georg Nüßlein. It was followed by the name Alfred Sauter, also CSU. And later Andrea Tandler, daughter of a CSU grandee.
If you had heard at the beginning of the year that the names Sauter and Tandler would make the headlines about the CSU, you would have thought more of a time gap that catapulted the party into the past than of what actually happened then. That MPs enrich themselves in the pandemic distress, this scenario sounded too adventurous – by the end of February, the investigators had approached the CSU Bundestag member Georg Nüßlein. Anyone who previously thought of “Nüßlein” thought of snacks. Now everyone thinks of the scandal of the year: the mask affair.
After the raid on Nüßlein, the investigators searched the parliamentary office of the former CSU Justice Minister Alfred Sauter in March. As it turned out, he got around 1.2 million euros for the brokerage of corona protective masks to ministries and other state buyers; the money went to a company owned by his daughters. Nüßlein was supposed to get about the same amount, but had to be content with a good half for now. The public prosecutor’s office assumes corruption, the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) sees it differently. It came to the conclusion that there was an improper commercialization of the mandate. The judiciary could not do anything, however, because the anti-bribery paragraph 108e was limited to processes in parliaments.
The commissions for Sauter and Nüßlein seem like peanuts compared to the sum that Andrea Tandler collected with a partner: 48 million euros. Tandler, daughter of ex-minister Gerold Tandler, has apparently used her CSU contacts to convey masks to ministries. Tax investigations are underway here, the presumption of innocence applies.
In response to the affair, party leader Markus Söder has promised a “new CSU”, the state parliament has drawn conclusions and decided on stricter rules of conduct for members of parliament and an investigative committee called “Mask”. The CSU will continue to hit the headlines in 2022.