Margaretha Sudhof, special investigator into the procurement of coronavirus masks, arrives at the Budget Committee in the German Bundestag. Credit: Michael Kappeler/dpa
German lawmakers have “more open than answered questions” over the former health minister’s procurement of expensive coronavirus masks, after the author of a report into the controversy appeared before the budget committee in parliament on Tuesday.
Jens Spahn, now a leading member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc, is under pressure from opposition parties after the report by investigator Margaretha Sudhof suggested he intervened in procurement during the Covid-19 crisis, despite his statements to the contrary.
Following Sudhof’s two-hour appearance in the Bundestag on Tuesday, Green politician Paul Piechotta said the controversy now amounts to “testimony against testimony – and someone is lying.”
Ines Schwerdtner, leader of The Left, said the allegations against Spahn and the health ministry have been “rather strengthened than eased.”
She called for a full committee of enquiry to be established to investigate the former government’s conduct, a move that the current conservative-led administration has opposed.
At the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, protective FFP2 masks were in extremely short supply, leading governments across the world to rush to secure masks.
Legal disputes over the procurement of masks are still threatening the German government, with potential liability running into the billions of euros.
Christian Haase, from Spahn’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said Sudhof’s appearance before the committee had been about improving the ministry’s litigation tactics for the ongoing proceedings.
Her comments were not about “any accusations against former ministers,” he said, condemning “conspicary theories from The Left and the Greens.”
The committee intends to discuss the mask purchases again at the end of July.
