Advisory Affairs Committee of Inquiry

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The members of the Bundestag before the start of the committee meeting
The members of the Bundestag before the start of the committee meeting
Statements on the occasion of the opening session on February 14, 2019

The Advisory Affairs Committee of Inquiry ("1st Committee of Inquiry of the Defense Committee of the 19th electoral term of the German Bundestag") is an investigative committee of the German Bundestag .

organization

The Defense Committee decided on January 30, 2019 to constitute a committee of inquiry. On February 14, 2019, the Defense Committee decided to set up a sub-committee to carry out the investigative tasks so that the work of the Defense Committee is not blocked by the investigations. According to Article 45a of the Basic Law, the Defense Committee has the rights of a committee of inquiry and must deal with a subject if a quarter of the committee members request it. The subcommittee has nine full members and the same number of deputy committee members.

The trigger for the establishment of the committee of inquiry and the evidencing decisions by minority vote was the refusal of the former civil servant State Secretary Katrin Suder to appear in person on the defense committee. However, she had offered to answer the questions in writing.

The committee has the task of examining the handling of external advice and support of the Federal Government in the BMVg's area of ​​responsibility from the beginning of the 18th electoral term until the establishment of the committee of inquiry under contractual, legal, budgetary, security-related, military, technological and political aspects as well as personal and to review the political responsibilities of the management level and the education and information practice of the Federal Ministry of Defense on this matter.

The formal taking of evidence began on March 21, 2019. Initially, August 31, 2019 was decided as the end date of the investigative work, but the committee continued the taking of evidence in September, and a questioning of Ursula von der Leyen is not planned until December 2019.

List of witnesses and experts

By the end of September 2019, 21 witnesses and experts had been heard, another 13 witnesses and experts, including Ursula von der Leyen, were summoned and partially terminated.

On March 21, 2019, on the first day of the hearing, Lieutenant General Ludwig Leinhos was questioned as an expert, and Thea Dilger and Helmut Peters as witnesses . Both witnesses are officials of the Federal Audit Office .

research object

The awarding of high-value consultancy contracts is examined, in which the applicable award criteria were probably not met. In addition, there are allegations of tax wastage and mismanagement.

About the Master Agreement 20237, which the BMI is centrally closed for the federal government, consulting and support services were billed. The framework agreement is intended for IT services relating to the maintenance and commissioning of IBM software products. According to statements in the investigative committee, the contract will only apply to existing products. Systemvertrieb Alexander GmbH SVA was the holder of the framework agreement during the period in question.

The focus is in particular on the IT consulting company Accenture , as well as today's digital council chairmen Katrin Suder, Timo Nötzel and General Erhard Bühler . Accenture sends its own observers to the meetings and reports to it. The investigation committee should also determine personal relationships between the actors.

Some witnesses testified that Accenture was a preferred candidate for commissioning the Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) project , which was clearly communicated by the management of the BMVg .

The commissioning of McKinsey & Company , or the subsidiary Orphoz, by the federally owned BWI GmbH was also examined. Major General Klaus Veit reported that the BWI achieved high profits , which state-owned companies are prohibited. According to the general, the surpluses should be used to attract external consultants to BWI and to pay them high prices.

In two meetings of the committee of inquiry, the deputies dealt with the privatization of the three main plants of the Heeresinstandsetzunglogistik GmbH (HIL). The examination of whether privatization is possible was not awarded to the best-rated law firm, but to the second worst. The future Minister of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer ( CDU ) also came up on the matter, as she promised trade unionists of the HIL-Werke, as Saarland's Prime Minister, not to sell the works. She later implemented this as Minister of Defense.

According to witness statements, there were poor personnel conditions in the Ministry of Defense. Several witnesses described strong pressure from superiors.

Role of Katrin Suder

In particular, the extent to which the former Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen was informed about the events is also being examined, as was her then State Secretary Katrin Suder . In the 25th meeting, on October 24, 2019, Klaus Veit stated that he had already informed Katrin Suder of the grievances in the federally owned BWI GmbH on February 6, 2019. According to the general's statements, Suder passed his observations on to the defense minister with a written note that she could not take care of it because she was concerned.

On January 30, 2020, Katrin Suder had to testify before the committee. Suder could only remember little from the period in question, which led to astonishment among parts of the opposition representatives, as Suder was known for her good memory. In her statement, Suder described her actions in time and repeatedly listed the crisis conditions under which she explained the organization of armaments and digitization. In her statement, however, she emphasized that she wanted the Bundeswehr, or the federal government, to be able to deal with industry on an equal footing. Suder denied having been indirectly involved in the award of contracts - and thus also for instructions or assignments to people with whom she had friends or other close relationships.

Role of Ursula von der Leyen

In the course of the clarification of Ursula von der Leyen's role, the investigative committee, after researching the press, demanded that the connection data be handed over to her work cell phone and applied for the phone to be classified as evidence. According to MPs, the Ministry of Defense delayed its publication several times. In December 2019, it was finally announced to the press from a confidential meeting of the committee that the data on the phone had apparently been deleted by the manufacturer on the instructions of the ministry in August and are probably irretrievably lost. This is confirmed by the opposition in their special vote on the investigation report.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 1. Committee of Inquiry of the Defense Committee according to Art. 45a Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law. German Bundestag , accessed on February 21, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Agenda: 1st meeting of the subcommittee of the Defense Committee as 1st committee of inquiry according to Article 45a paragraph 2 GG. German Bundestag , February 8, 2019, accessed on February 22, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Article 45a of the Basic Law at juris
  4. ↑ Members - 1. Committee of Inquiry of the Defense Committee according to Art. 45a Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law. German Bundestag , accessed on October 31, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Thorsten Jungholt: Bundeswehr adviser affair: Von der Leyens confidante does not dare to enter the Bundestag . December 11, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed February 21, 2019]).
  6. ↑ a b Order - 1. Committee of Inquiry of the Defense Committee according to Art. 45a Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law. German Bundestag , January 30, 2019, accessed on June 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Donata Riedel: Ministry of Defense: What the committee of inquiry in the consultant affair means for von der Leyen. Handelsblatt , March 21, 2019, accessed on October 31, 2019 .
  8. ^ A b Tillmann Neuscheler: Adviser affair of the Bundeswehr: Colonel accuses advisors of insolent behavior . Ed .: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 27, 2019, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed October 31, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Patrick Pehl: List of witnesses. In: berateraffäre.de. September 26, 2019, accessed October 31, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Agenda: 5th meeting of the subcommittee of the Defense Committee as 1st committee of inquiry according to Article 45a paragraph 2 of the Basic Law. German Bundestag , March 21, 2019, accessed on March 26, 2019 .
  11. ^ Christian Schweppe: Committee of Inquiry: The most important questions in the consultant affair . January 30, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed October 31, 2019]).
  12. ↑ Thomas Schmoll: "The fault is in the system". N-TV , October 20, 2019, accessed October 31, 2019 .
  13. ↑ a b Patrick Pehl: The accentuated preferred candidate. In: Consultant affair. June 6, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b Patrick Pehl: We were under pressure! In: berateraffäre.de. May 17, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 .
  15. ^ Patrick Pehl: Affair of the Ministry of Defense: Advisors advise advisors . In: The daily newspaper: taz . May 24, 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed October 6, 2019]).
  16. ↑ Hans-Martin Tillack: Consulting company Accenture lets the investigative committee listen. stern , May 24, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Thomas Schmoll: "General B." worried about private company. N-TV , June 7, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 .
  18. ^ A b Christian Schweppe: Adviser affair in the Bundeswehr: As in Sodom and Gomorrah . May 10, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed October 26, 2019]).
  19. ↑ a b Thomas Schmoll: Von der Leyen knew about it for months. N-TV , October 25, 2019, accessed October 26, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Thomas Schmoll: The consultant affair catches up with AKK. N-TV , September 12, 2019, accessed October 25, 2019 .
  21. ↑ HIL privatization definitely stopped. Saarländischer Rundfunk , October 17, 2019, accessed on October 25, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Patrick Pehl: Lehnigk-Emden, GM Veit, Korb. In: berateraffäre.de. October 26, 2019, accessed October 26, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Winfried Werner: Announcement of the agenda and announcement-free motions - A contribution to the interpretation of § 124 AktG - . In: Festschrift for Hans-Joachim Fleck on his 70th birthday on January 30, 1988 . De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 1988, ISBN 978-3-11-088855-3 , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110888553-025 .
  24. ↑ a b Patrick Pehl: Katrin Suder. In: Consultant Affair Podcast. January 31, 2020, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  25. ↑ n-tv NEWS: High- flyer Suder in memory flight. Retrieved February 2, 2020 .
  26. ^ Witness in counseling affair: "Pre-protected total amnesia". In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved February 2, 2020 .
  27. ↑ "Possibly important cell phone data Ursula von der Leyens deleted" Zeit.de from December 20, 2019
  28. ^ Joint special vote of the parliamentary groups FDP, DIE LINKE. and ALLIANCE 90 / THE GREENS. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .