A new investigation by a special investigator at the Ministry of Health, former Justice State Secretary Margaretha Sudhof, has uncovered new irregularities in the procurement of protective masks. According to a media report, the Ministry of Health, under the then Health Minister Jens Spahn, is alleged to have made high settlements to suppliers, with the involvement of the then Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.
The investigation focuses on the possibly unnecessary or unjustified out-of-court settlements with mask vendors, who had sued the government for non-compliance with the delivery contracts. The previously unpublished findings show that the residence of the then Health Minister Spahn’s office had made itself vulnerable to legal attacks by imposing excessive quality control demands on the masks in court, thereby forcing the government to settle for millions of euros in costs.
Furthermore, the responsible officials ignored the legal guidelines for the use of federal funds, as they failed to release larger settlement sums, which were not approved by the Finance Ministry. However, the Finance Ministry did not inquire or enforce compliance with the regulations, as criticized in the Sudhof report. The FAZ had previously reported that the additional costs for overpriced masks were more than 150 million euros higher than previously known.
The Ministry of Health, under its current head Nina Warken, declined to provide detailed answers to the questions raised. The Finance Ministry, under its current head Lars Klingbeil, refused to comment on the events, citing the lack of access to the Sudhof report.