German prosecutors are assessing whether to open a corruption investigation into finance minister Christian Lindner over allegations of a conflict of interest concerning a private bank that provided his mortgage.
In May last year, Lindner addressed the 100th-anniversary celebrations for BBBank, a retail bank based in the south-western city of Karlsruhe, but did not disclose that he had received a home loan from the same institution.
He took out an additional loan from the same bank after the May video address, according to German media reports.
A statement issued by the chief public prosecutor in Berlin on Monday said it had begun a “preliminary assessment” into whether Lindner’s parliamentary immunity should be lifted, which would allow him to pursue a full investigation of the matter. It stressed that the fact such a probe had been opened did not mean Lindner was suspected of having committed a crime.
It was, the prosecutor’s office said, “normal” under the circumstances and was “still ongoing”.
Christian Schertz, Lindner’s lawyer, dismissed the allegations against his client. “Herr Lindner began the financing of his property long before he took on the job of finance minister,” he said. “All conditions were always in accordance with prevailing market terms. Giving a short welcoming address at a bank’s 100th anniversary belongs to the regular exercise of a minister’s duties. There is no connection between the two events.”
The prosecutors’ move came after a report in news magazine Der Spiegel last October about Lindner’s financial affairs. It said the minister had acquired a property in Berlin in January 2021 for €1.65mn and taken out a mortgage for €2.35mn from BBBank, reflecting the high renovation costs for the flat.
Lindner has been leader of the liberal and pro-business Free Democrats since 2013. The party entered government in late 2021, forming a three-way coalition with the left-of-centre Social Democrats and Greens.
Lindner had taken part in client events at the bank before he became a minister, activities which his lawyer said were always “in accordance with all the rules of the German Bundestag and were reported, made transparent and published”. Then in April, the bank approached the finance ministry to ask if Lindner would record a welcoming address for the bank’s general meeting. “The request was decided positively and dealt with at the management level of the ministry, as is usual with such inquiries,” the finance ministry said on Monday. The greeting was subsequently recorded in May 2022.
According to Der Spiegel, Lindner then went on to borrow more funds from BBBank, taking out an additional €450,000 mortgage in July.
The finance ministry declined to say whether Lindner had disclosed his private business relationship with BBBank when he made the video. Lindner said, through his lawyer, that the claim he had “covered things up” (a claim made in some German media reports) lacked any basis because he had no obligation to disclose the information.
The finance ministry declined to comment on the prosecutors’ decision to open a preliminary investigation, saying only that it was “quite normal” for ministers or state secretaries to “address all kinds of institutions” and participate in events such as BBBank’s 100th anniversary.
It also said Lindner had voluntarily submitted to the ministry’s compliance measures when he became finance minister.
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