Spahn in the crosshairs: Lauterbach wants to clarify mask procurement

Spahn in the crosshairs: Lauterbach wants to clarify mask procurement

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/picture alliance, Bodo Schackow

Berlin – Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to clarify the expensive mask purchases at the beginning of the corona crisis. He has appointed the former State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defense, Margaretha Sudhof (SPD), as the investigator for the mask operations, Lauterbach told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“Ms Sudhof is to thoroughly examine the failures of the last legislative period and make them transparent,” Lauterbach announced. “She is now clearing out the mess, going into every nook and cranny.” Within a few months, the lawyer will present him with a report that could also have personnel consequences.

In a current affairs session of the Bundestag at the end of June, the then Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) justified the 2020 approach: “We had to decide in an emergency.” His successor Lauterbach said: “If mistakes were made, then they have to be brought to the table, and that clearly seems to have been the case.”

The documentation for mask procurement is highly problematic. It must also be clarified why, even after the procurement freeze in the so-called open house procedure, further direct contracts were concluded due to excessive delivery commitments. In an open house procedure, a public contracting authority concludes a contract with all bidders.

Lauterbach said that, according to current knowledge, the high purchase price of 4.50 euros per mask was set by his predecessor Spahn. He announced that he would investigate this suspicion against Spahn: “For this purpose, the files are now also being secured, archived and evaluated.”

Spahn also recommended the Münsterland-based logistics company Fiege. This company is based in his constituency. “It naturally raises questions when a company from the minister’s region is selected that is not exactly a global corporation.”

Lauterbach rejected a settlement with suing mask suppliers who accuse the ministry of not paying and breaching contracts. He said they are considering taking the case to the Federal Court of Justice. Lawsuits with a total value of 2.3 billion euros are still pending in around 100 cases from simmering disputes over mask deliveries.

In the current affairs debate, the Greens, for example, had called for an investigation into the use of billions of euros in taxpayers’ money “for shady contracts”. FDP budget politician Karsten Klein said that the aim now was to minimise the risks of over-procurement, which had arisen under the responsibility of the CDU.

The FDP is calling for a commission of inquiry to examine the Corona policy. Spahn said that they had acted according to the motto: “It is better to have than to need.” The current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was also involved as Finance Minister and was right to make the money available. © dpa/aerzteblatt.de

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