The affair of African diplomatic badges for criminal Germans expands after SPIEGEL information. In addition to the state of Guinea-Bissau now Gambia is affected. There, the events triggered a government crisis, more than a dozen suspects was arrested.
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The background: Gambian diplomatic passports were issued to dubious German and European business people with some criminal past. Some of them are the same men against whom the Munich public prosecutor's office is already investigating, including the punitive Andreas Brandl, known to the justice, and the stunted professional boxer Mario Daser.
A Gambian diplomatic passport has also been issued for a Swiss millionaire son against whom a German warrant has been issued. The three were the investigators initially noticed as the owner of questionable diplomatic identity cards of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.
However, several of these papers were confiscated by the Federal Police at Maiam Frankfurt Airport (SPIEGEL 38/2019). A few weeks later, passports of the Republic of Gambia were issued to the men. In it, they are referred to as Gambian citizens and special ambassadors ("Ambassador at Large").
According to the government, Gambia is now investigating allegedly corrupt employees of the local Foreign Ministry. In Germany, police arrested three men involved in the Passover at the end of August. One of the detainees had helped Boris Becker to an African diplomatic post in 2018, with which the ex-tennis star tried unsuccessfully to escape his bankruptcy.
Daser's lawyer did not want to comment on the allegations. Brandl's defense lawyer said his client could not explain the investigation. He wanted to "comment on all allegations in due time".
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