For Andreas Scheuer, the worry about the car toll never ends: the cell phone data of the Minister and his State Secretary have apparently been deleted. The opposition suspects "system" behind it.
- Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer has been struggling with the effects of the toll debacle for months.
- The flop could cost the federal government hundreds of millions of euros.
- Now there are new allegations against the CSU politician: Apparently cell phone data has disappeared.
Berlin / Munich - The scandal surrounding the failed car toll threatens to take another uncomfortable turn for Andreas Scheuer (CSU) - the cell phone data of the Minister of Transport and other executives have apparently been deleted. The Greens already suspect a "systematic approach".
Andreas Scheuer in criticism: Cell phone data deleted - also by State Secretary Beermann
As became known on Thursday, the Bundestag's investigative committee cannot access certain data from Scheuer's cell phone. The minister's and other executives' cell phone data for the period prior to February 2019 had been deleted, FDP chairman Oliver Luksic said. The ministry said this at a meeting of the committee.
The "massive documentation gap" hampers the clarification of facts, Luksic complained. "The cell phone data of the former State Secretary Beermann were also deleted after he left the office, even though the committee of inquiry was on the way at that time." The Green Chairman of the committee of inquiry, Stephan Kühn, said: "It gives the impression that the Ministry of Transport has proceeded systematically here is. "
Andreas Scheuer: Committee of Inquiry is to clarify possible errors in the event of a car toll that has burst
A backup copy of the service cell phones should be presented to the toll investigation committee . The background to the demand was the events in another Bundestag investigation committee on the so-called advisory affair in the Ministry of Defense. There the cell phone data of the former Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) were to be evaluated - but they had been deleted.
The toll committee is to examine Scheuer's approach to the broken car toll. The opposition accuses him of hastily concluding contracts with future toll operators in 2018 without any definitive legal certainty. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) then stopped it in summer 2019. The proposed operators estimate their claims on the federal government at 560 million euros .
It has been speculated for months whether the processes surrounding the toll scouring could cost the ministerial office. Scheuer had also recently lost an important ally when it came to speed limits.
dpa / fn