Wiped phone puts von der Leyen back in contracting scandal spotlight

Wiped phone puts von der Leyen back in contracting scandal spotlight

Lawmakers say the phone was key evidence in investigation.

By HANS VON DER BURCHARD 12/20/19, 3:57 PM CET Updated 12/21/19, 3:06 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/wiped-phone-puts-von-der-leyen-back-in-contracting-scandal-spotlight/

It has emerged that a mobile phone used by von der Leyen while she was German defense minister has been wiped clean of all data | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Ursula von der Leyen was back in the spotlight over a contracting scandal after it emerged that a mobile phone she used as German defense minister had been wiped clean of all data.

Members of a German parliamentary committee investigating the scandal cried foul over the deletion. They had wanted to examine the phone as part of their probe into how lucrative contracts from the defense ministry were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight, and whether a network of informal personal connections facilitated those deals.

An official from the ministry told the committee on Thursday that the phone, which lawmakers had demanded since February be examined as evidence, had been wiped in August — the same month that von der Leyen left the ministry after she had been elected as European Commission president (German newspaper Welt first reported about the wiped phone).

Alexander Müller, a committee member from the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), said there were "reasonable grounds to suspect that von der Leyen's phone contained important information" for clarifying her role in the consultancy affair.

"We could not find official papers or other documents revealing why the ministry hired external consultants ... so the assumption is that a lot happened by text messages," Müller said. "Since February, we have insisted that her phone should be examined as part of the investigation, and for months we were told [by the ministry] that they are still looking for the phone and can't find it."

The investigative committee is expected to question von der Leyen over the affair on February 13.

In November last year, von der Leyen told the German parliament there had been “mistakes” in how external consultants were hired and said "this never should have happened." But she defended the use of such consultants and blamed the problems on a mixture of negligence, corner-cutting and mistakes by individuals overwhelmed by their work.

The investigative committee is expected to question von der Leyen over the affair on February 13.

A spokesperson for the defense ministry said that von der Leyen had two phones, one of which she used until January and another one she used afterwards because her old number had been exposed as part of a major data hack.

The first phone is the one of greater interest to lawmakers, who say it is more relevant because it was used during the time that questionable consultancy contracts were awarded.

The ministry spokesperson said the first phone was "deleted properly, in accordance with the internal regulations," while the second phone is still kept at the ministry.

The spokesperson had no comment on why the phones were not made available earlier to the parliamentary committee, but stressed that the ministry was "permanently identifying documents that could be relevant to the investigation."

A spokesperson for von der Leyen said that the Commission president had kept both phones until she left her previous job and then handed them back to the ministry in accordance with "usual procedure." He did not comment on whether von der Leyen was aware that her phones could have been relevant to the parliamentary investigation.

Tobias Lindner, a Green MP on the investigative committee, said the wiping of the phone was a "veritable scandal" that was further aggravated by the fact that the defense ministry had issued a so-called "file destruction moratorium" — meaning that no information should be destroyed that could be in any way relevant to the investigation.

"We have to assume that officials have destroyed evidence. Such behavior may have criminal implications," he said, adding that current Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer must "draw clear consequences" and name "those responsible for this unbelievable process."

"All text messages and other short messages covered by the evidence warrants must now be sent to the investigating committee without delay," said Lindner. He declared that the ministry must stop "torpedoing" the committee's work.

Lindner added that he had found three messages from von der Leyen on his own phone that could be relevant to the investigation, and he had submitted them to the committee.

The defense ministry spokesperson confirmed that the ministry had issued a file destruction moratorium and said that "we are of course now examining the circumstances, how exactly it went with the deletion."