The background was investigations into suspected criminal frustration in office.
(Photo: dpa)
Osnabruck The district court of Osnabrück has subsequently overturned a controversial decision to search the Federal Ministry of Justice in connection with money laundering investigations. At the beginning of September 2021, shortly before the federal elections, offices and archives of the ministry in Berlin were searched. However, the conditions for this were not met, as the district court announced on Thursday with reference to a decision made on Wednesday (reference number 12 Qs 32/21).
The searches in the Ministry of Justice, which was then headed by today’s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, and on the same day in the Ministry of Finance headed by today’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (both SPD) caused a stir shortly before the election. Critics saw it as an electoral maneuver.
The background was investigations into suspected criminal prosecution in the office, according to which the special unit of customs against money laundering (FIU) should not have forwarded suspicious activity reports to the investigating authorities in all cases. The public prosecutor’s office then telephoned the Ministry of Justice to request the release of a letter to the Federal Ministry of Finance – because the Ministry of Justice refused this, the investigators obtained the search warrant from the district court.
However, the district court now ruled that the search was not permissible and not necessary. Among other things, the destruction of evidence was not to be feared, and there was no particular urgency. In addition, the requested letter and other evidence had been part of the investigation files since an earlier search in July 2020.
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The effects of the raid were also not in proportion to the strength of the suspicion, it said. There were no indications of wrongdoing in the Ministry of Justice. Nevertheless, exposing the ministry to suspicion of not acting in accordance with the law is therefore apt to “do not inconsiderable damage to the reputation of the Federal Republic of Germany and its institutions”.
The Federal Ministry of Justice said on the day of the search that the procedure was “incomprehensible and disproportionate”. Of course, the desired documents would have been released on written request. But there was never such a requirement.
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