The deletion of the cell phone data of former Defense Minister von der Leyen causes displeasure. But she is clueless: she only found out about it from the media. The deletion is not important in the consultant affair anyway.
The former Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen defends herself against allegations that the committee of inquiry missed important information in the consultant affair due to the deletion of her cell phone data. "I gave both of the cell phones that I used as Defense Minister to the ministry. You have to ask what happened to them there," said the current EU Commission President in "Spiegel".
"In my opinion nothing is lost"
She had no knowledge of the deletion, said von der Leyen. "I only know that from the newspaper. I haven’t been to the Ministry of Defense since July 17th." Von der Leyen emphasized that the investigation committee did not miss any important information due to the deletion. "In my opinion, nothing is lost, because SMS are suitable for fast communication. Documents and strategies, however, are developed elsewhere in federal ministries and sent differently," said the CDU politician.
Von der Leyen also rejected allegations that the Ministry of Defense was only sluggishly supportive of parliament’s educational work. "The investigative committee received hundreds of thousands of pages of files from the ministry and heard dozens of witnesses in ten months," said von der Leyen. It is "of course the right of the opposition to poke in all directions and make all sorts of speculations". But in the end it is the result that counts.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to enlighten
Her successor as Federal Defense Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, had previously stated that she wanted to clarify possible errors in her ministry when deleting her predecessor’s cell phone data. A spokesman in Berlin said there were "significant question marks" about how the former head of department used the cell phone.
Kramp-Karrenbauer therefore wants to know by January 3 who initiated the deletion, when it took place, where the phone is now and why the data was not saved for the Bundestag investigative committee. The Green member of the Bundestag Tobias Lindner also filed a criminal complaint because of the data deletion. According to Lindner, it is, among other things, a suspicion of the suppression of documents under Section 274 of the Criminal Code.
The deletion is explosive because the committee of inquiry into the so-called consultant affair had requested the cell phone data as evidence. The Bundestag committee deals with allegations such as incorrect procurement and nepotism in the Ministry of Defense. Under von der Leyen, the ministry had awarded contracts to external consulting firms.