Charges brought in mask affair
Andrea Tandler is said to have evaded millions
05/30/2023, 3:21 p.m
The daughter of former CSU general secretary Gerold Tandler has been in custody since January. Andrea Tandler is one of the key figures in the Bavarian mask affair. The public prosecutor’s office is now bringing charges: It is said to be tax evasion in the millions.
In the Bavarian mask affair, the Munich I public prosecutor’s office accused the politician’s daughter and entrepreneur Andrea Tandler and a business partner. As the authority in the Bavarian state capital announced, it is about tax evasion offenses totaling around 23.5 million euros in connection with mask shops. Among other things, Tandler is said to have withheld from the Munich tax office high commissions that she received through mediation.
Accordingly, the public prosecutor assumes income tax evasion. In addition, Tandler, together with her business partner Darius N., who, according to the authorities, is also her partner, is accused of other tax offenses and an unlawful application for emergency corona aid in connection with the mask shops. Both founded a joint company, whose tax-relevant circumstances are said to have had an impact on the high commissions that Tandler initially earned separately as a sole proprietor.
Because the commission payments flowed into the new joint venture as company shares, gift tax would also have been due, according to the indictment. It is also about the allegation of trade tax evasion, because the two accused gave the tax office a false company address in the municipality of Grünwald. According to the public prosecutor’s office, they wanted to avoid higher trade taxes in Munich. In this case, a third suspect is also charged with aiding and abetting trade tax evasion.
In custody since January
Tandler and N. have been in custody since January. Both are key figures in the so-called Bavarian mask affair, which is also being investigated by an investigative committee of the Bavarian state parliament. The daughter of the former CSU general secretary and former Bavarian state minister Gerold Tandler is said to have collected commissions for mask deals in the first Corona year 2020, which she initiated for the Federal Ministry of Health and the health ministries of the states of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the public prosecutor, Tandler originally ran an advertising agency in Munich, where her partner worked as a restaurateur. In April they founded a company together and registered as managing directors. The month before, Tandler is said to have mediated the mask business between a manufacturer and the authorities. In the early days of the pandemic, protective masks were missing worldwide. Many states tried feverishly to secure supplies.
The indictment will be filed with an economic criminal division of the Munich I Regional Court. The division will now examine the indictment and decide on the opening of the main hearing. There was no timetable for this at first.
Tandler and her partner have already tried in vain to obtain their release from custody. In mid-April, the Munich Higher Regional Court, like the Munich Regional Court I before it, rejected the complaints made by the two accused. At the time, the judges found that there was an urgent suspicion of a crime and a risk of absconding.