In times of tight budgets, the Federal Ministry of Health is threatened with a payment of 2.3 billion euros to suppliers of corona masks. This is the result of a response from the ministry to a request from FDP budget politician Karsten Klein, which WELT AM SONNTAG has received. Around 100 lawsuits from the dealers are currently pending in court. “The pending proceedings have a total value in dispute of around 2.3 billion euros,” the ministry announced. The federal government is thus threatened with significantly greater damage than in the toll scandal involving former Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU).
The court cases are a heavy legacy of the then Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU). At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, in the so-called open house procedure, he guaranteed all suppliers an unlimited purchase of masks at the already high price of 4.50 euros per FFP2 mask. When the ministry was then overrun by dealers, it refused to pay, partly citing allegedly faulty or delayed deliveries. The number of lawsuits increased at the end of last year because the statute of limitations expired in December.
“Taxpayers are facing an immense cost shock,” warns Klein, who is the FDP’s chairman in the budget committee. The outcome of the lawsuits is still to be seen, but it is already clear: “The consequences of the massive over-procurement under the then Health Minister Jens Spahn are becoming more and more devastating.” A thorough investigation is now more necessary than ever, says Klein. “The consequences of the open house procedure are another argument for setting up an inquiry commission to investigate the corona pandemic. This would strengthen the population’s trust in politics and would be an expression of a good culture of error.”
So far, the Ministry of Health has settled around 80 disputes with suppliers through settlements, according to Karl Lauterbach’s (SPD) office. How expensive these were remains a secret. Two other cases were legally lost and eight were won. In total, the federal government paid 5.9 billion euros for protective masks during the pandemic, of which, according to the Federal Audit Office, only just under 30 percent were distributed in Germany. 2.9 billion masks were destroyed or are earmarked for this purpose.
