Angela Merkel’s party rocked after MPs accused of taking kickbacks for face-mask contracts

The German parliament

Credit: PAWEL KOPCZYNSKI/Reuters

Angela Merkel’s government has been engulfed in a corruption scandal after two backbench MPs were accused of profiteering from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a serious blow less than a week ahead of key regional elections, the MPs were accused of accepting backhand payments to broker government contracts for facemasks.

Nikolas Löbel resigned as an MP and as a member of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrat party (CDU) on Monday after admitting he accepted a commission of €250,000 (£215,000) for arranging a local government contract.

“To be a member of the German Bundestag and represent my hometown Mannheim there is a great honor and a special moral obligation,” Mr Löbel said in a statement. 

“I violated this obligation with my actions. I would like to apologise to all the citizens of the country.” 

A second MP, Georg Nüsslein, denies allegations he accepted backhanders of more than €600,000 (£515,000) to broker facemask contracts for the Bavarian regional government.

Mr Nüsslein resigned from Mrs Merkel’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), on Monday but has so far resisted calls to give up his seat in parliament.

The scandal comes with Mrs Merkel’s government already facing public anger over Germany’s slow and chaotic vaccine roll-out.

The allegations have hit the CDU hard in the run-up to elections in two states that are expected to serve as a bellwether for September’s general election.

In polling in Baden-Württemberg, traditionally a CDU stronghold, the party is 11 points behind the rival Greens, while in Rhineland-Palatinate it is 4 points behind the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD).

Party grandees reacted furiously to the allegations. Mr Löbel initially tried to cling on in parliament but resigned after Armin Laschet, the CDU leader, called on him to go.

“Such behaviour is indecent and we are ashamed,” Paul Ziemiak, the CDU secretary-general, said. “If you’ve held up your hand to something like that, you’ve got to resign.”

Markus Söder, the CSU leader, called on Mr Nusslein to stand down as an MP but admitted the party could not force him to resign his seat.

“It is intolerable when representatives of the people try to turn a crisis into a business opportunity,” Mr Söder said.