Jan Böhmermann accuses Fynn Kliemann of mask fraud

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Jan Böhmermann: quoted in his program from alleged internal e-mail and chat traffic, order confirmations and videos

Photo: ZDF

In April 2020, the YouTuber and entrepreneur Fynn Kliemann made big announcements: On the Internet he advertised "fairly produced, reusable mouth coverings from Europe".

A mask costs »1/10 of the things of the overpriced profiteers«.

With his business partner Tom Illbruck, he will save jobs at our producer in Europe.

Research by ZDF Magazin Royale has now revealed that Kliemann may have lied.

According to its own statements, the ZDF Magazin Royale evaluated internal e-mail and chat traffic, order confirmations, videos, photos and delivery notes.

The research revealed that the textile company Global Tactics may not have its masks made in Europe, but in Bangladesh and Vietnam - for little money.

Jan Böhmermann quoted several alleged text messages from Kliemann on his show.

These not only provide indications that Kliemann favored Bangladesh as a production location, since “the Kappa

can ultimately be ramped up fastest there”.

When asked by the magazine, employees in the production halls in Dhaka apparently only earned an average of 120 euros a month.

The production costs per mask were apparently 45 cents, and they were sold for more than double.

In a conversation with "Focus Online" in 2020, Kliemann said that sales at the price were "just about the same": "The financial incentive is irrelevant."

The messages shown in the program also contain alleged evidence that the YouTuber may have deliberately concealed the origin of the masks: "Can we get the boxes neutrally without Bangladesh as the origin," says one of the quoted messages.

According to research, if the country of production was visible on the delivered boxes, they were delivered to refugee camps in Bosnia and Greece.

The masks were for sale both on the “About You” sales platform and in the company’s own online shop.

The company Global Tactics advertises on its website with "fair and sustainable clothing", the production facilities are said to be in Serbia and Portugal.

According to research, Global Tactics ordered a total of 2.3 million masks in Bangladesh alone.

Kliemann did not comment on the portrayal of the TV magazine to SPIEGEL, but pointed out that he would soon publish a statement on the allegations himself.

In an Instagram post, a few days ago, before the publication of the magazine show, he took a video position.

There he shared the catalog of questions from the magazine editors.

He is a "fan of transparency" and finds it "actually good" when investigative journalists question content on the Internet.

In the video, Kliemann speaks of "our producers in Portugal" when asked about mask production by Global Tactics.

When asked "How do you ensure fair production conditions?" he confirmed that all the masks sold in his online shop come "from Portugal or Serbia": "This is Europe, and there are clear rules in Europe, such as working hours, a ban on Child labor and minimum wages.«

He also referred to his article on the oderso.cool platform, in which he explains the origin of the clothing he produces.

You can read there that he produces “mainly in Europe”.

In the Instagram statement, he partially distances himself from the company Global Tactics.

Although he is involved, he is only a "silent partner" and has "no right of co-determination".

Fynn Kliemann became known for his creative project "Kliemannsland" and his YouTube channel, on which he published do-it-yourself videos on craft topics.

He now has almost 600,000 followers there.

He later founded a fashion label and his own record company.

On the North Sea peninsula of Nordstrand, he recently converted various houses into holiday apartments.

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