"Spahn, Germany's health minister from 2018 to 2021, played a crucial role at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Spahn was called by an "enquete-commission," a committee appointed by the Bundestag consisting of 14 members of parliament from all parliamentary groups as well as external experts, which is currently examining how the German state acted during the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Spahn, who is now parliamentary group leader for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), procured huge quantities of protective face masks at apparently greatly inflated prices. One employee of the Federal Audit Office, which monitors government expenditure, said Spahn's ministry bought some 5.8 billion masks at a unit price of around a euro ($1.20). Well over half of them were never distributed and later had to be destroyed."
"The health minister ultimately failed to accept or pay for a large number of the masks he ordered. Germany's government could face payments of some 2.3 billion ($2.7 billion) to health product manufacturers if courts rule against it in the dozens of lawsuits that have been filed over the issue."
Jens Spahn procured vast quantities of protective face masks early in the COVID-19 pandemic, reportedly at greatly inflated prices. An audit found about 5.8 billion masks were bought at roughly one euro each, with well over half never distributed and later destroyed. The Federal Audit Office characterized the purchases as massive over-procurement. The health ministry ultimately failed to accept or pay for many orders. The government faces potential payments of roughly 2.3 billion euros if courts rule against it in dozens of lawsuits. Spahn defended decisions as aimed at containing the virus and preventing healthcare overload and has admitted hindsight could have changed actions.
Read at www.dw.com
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