He was the last invited witness in the U-Committee Mask of the Bavarian state parliament. Prime Minister Söder rejects any responsibility for abuses when buying masks during the pandemic.: Söder rejects personal responsibility

He was the last invited witness in the U-Committee Mask of the Bavarian state parliament. Prime Minister Söder rejects any responsibility for abuse when buying masks during the pandemic.
Söder rejects personal responsibility

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Soder has denied any responsibility for shortcomings in the purchase of corona protective masks by the state government during the pandemic.

“There was no influence, no instructions to do something individual,” said the CSU boss during his witness hearing in the Bavarian Mask investigative committee state legislature. Söder is the last witness invited to the panel, which started work about a year ago.

The central responsibility for the purchase of masks lay with the Ministry of Health and the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL), said Söder. He himself was responsible for setting the “big line” in fighting the pandemic. “As Prime Minister you don’t have to worry about every detail. You don’t count every mask either.”

bavaria The state government got involved in the procurement of masks because the global market had failed. However, there was no influence whatsoever on the part of the government or its members. “Nobody seriously believes that a minister or the state chancellery said, this mask or not.” At the same time, Söder criticized that some politicians had used the emergency to enrich themselves personally through mask shops.

The aim of the committee set up by the state parliament in December 2021 at the urging of the SPD, Greens and FDP was and is in particular to support the state government’s mask business in the corona pandemic as well as possible investments by politicians and sometimes high commission payments to MPs – whereby the commissions came from the companies involved.

dpa