Andrea Tandler: Was the mask millionaire planning to flee to Switzerland?

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Lobbyist Tandler on her way to the mask investigation committee in the Bavarian state parliament in February 2022

Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa

An apartment in the posh Swiss town of Davos is said to be one of the reasons that led to the arrest of the mask millionaire Andrea Tandler.

During tax investigations against the businesswoman, who has been in custody since Tuesday, investigators came across an apartment on Hertistrasse in Davos, which Swiss authorities assigned to the Tandler family and which the accused could have used as a place to escape.

The German investigators got on the trail of the apartment through a transfer: In July 2020, around 15,000 euros flowed into an account with the Graubündner Kantonalbank.

The term "Wohnung Tandler" and an abbreviation for residential property used in Switzerland were noted as intended use.

The Munich I public prosecutor's office has been investigating Tandler, daughter of ex-CSU Minister Gerold Tandler, for more than a year.

It's about business in 2020, in which Tandler alone is said to have brokered corona protective equipment from the Swiss company Emix for around 700 million euros to the federal government.

Tandler and her partner Darius N., who was also arrested, are said to have received a commission of 48.3 million euros.

Tandler could have evaded trade taxes because she closed the first deals through her Munich advertising company, but is said to have directed the income to a newly founded company in the low-tax Grünwald.

In addition, Darius N. might have had to pay gift tax for his share.

The allegedly evaded sum is said to amount to 10 to 15 million euros;

there is a risk of several years imprisonment.

Due to the high expectation of punishment in connection with living in the non-EU country of Switzerland, the judiciary apparently saw a risk of absconding.

Tandler and N. have always denied any wrongdoing.

Her attorneys did not respond to inquiries Thursday.