Mask Scandal Germany · 2021 Commissions from the Pandemic — The Mask Affair

Several Union (CDU/CSU) MPs allegedly profited personally from brokering protective-mask deals during the pandemic. CSU MP Georg Nüßlein allegedly received 660,000 euros in commissions through his company; his parliamentary immunity was lifted. CDU MP Nikolas Löbel admitted to around 250,000 euros in commissions for brokering mask contracts and gave up his mandate. The most lucrative strand involved Andrea Tandler, daughter of former CSU general secretary Gerold Tandler: through her firm she brokered large mask orders to Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia — Bavaria paid 8.90 euros per unit, well above the going rate (otherwise 3 to 5.99 euros) — on a total volume of around 683 million euros, from which the Süddeutsche Zeitung calculated a possible profit margin of some 250 million euros. Allegations also targeted CSU politician Alfred Sauter and former CDU MP Mark Hauptmann (separately entangled in the so-called Azerbaijan affair). Nüßlein, Löbel, Sauter and Hauptmann left their parties.

To be distinguished — a different evidentiary tier, a different allegation — is the role of then–health minister Jens Spahn (CDU). Here the issue is not personal commissions but the procurement itself: Spahn bought roughly 5.8 billion masks for about 5.9 billion euros, of which over 4 billion went unused or were destroyed. A special report by commissioner Margaretha Sudhof, prepared on behalf of his successor Karl Lauterbach, criticized Spahn for procuring masks at grossly inflated prices against the advice of his own specialist departments; the Federal Court of Auditors raised similar objections. The report was initially transmitted to the Bundestag with redactions. The Greens and the Left called for a parliamentary committee of inquiry, which lacks the votes; an Enquete commission is examining the matter instead. Spahn calls the allegations "malicious" and points to the emergency of the pandemic. Important for classification: against Spahn stands the allegation of wasting taxpayer money and opaque procurement — not personal enrichment and not a conviction.

Note on the commission cases: several criminal proceedings were dropped — in the assessment of the Federal Prosecutor's Office and a ruling of the Munich I Regional Court, the commissions for Sauter, Nüßlein and Tandler were probably legal. What remains is not a consistent finding of guilt but the exposed loophole in the law governing members of parliament: that legislators could enrich themselves on state procurement without breaking a criminal statute.