For a given weapon: Ex-Minister Caffier sentenced to a fine

Because of a given gun
Ex-Minister Caffier sentenced to a fine

The former Minister of the Interior of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania asked an arms dealer to give him a pistol and ammunition. According to the district court, this is a mild variant of corruption, more precisely: a taking advantage. Caffier now has to pay a hefty fine.

Because he is said to have received a weapon from an arms dealer without payment, the Güstrow district court has issued a penalty order of 13,500 euros against the former Interior Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lorenz Caffier. This sum corresponds to 45 daily rates of 300 euros, as the director of the court, Andreas Millat, said.

The Rostock public prosecutor’s office accused Caffier of taking advantage in two cases. He is said to have received a semi-automatic handgun worth around 800 euros from the arms dealer free of charge in January 2018. He is also said to have taken part in free shooting training for instruction, and the ammunition for it was also given to him.

The gun was ordered to be confiscated, Millat said. The penalty order is not yet final, Caffier now has two weeks to file an objection. Caffier himself said when asked that he would not comment on the matter. His lawyer could not be reached at first.

Connections to “Nordkreuz”

The gun dealer and shooting trainer Frank T., from whom Caffier got the gun, is said to have connections to the right-wing extremist network “Nordkreuz”. An interior minister who buys a weapon in the presence of right-wing extremists seemed intolerable. After 14 years in office, Caffier had to resign in November 2020. He himself called it a mistake not to have informed about the purchase earlier. At the time of the purchase in January 2018, nothing was known of its connections. He acquired the weapon as a hunter.

Caffier spoke several times of a “purchase” of the weapon. But even then, investigators doubted this statement. The prosecutors did not find proof of payment or the purchase contract from the alleged seller. The public prosecutor’s office assumes that, as a minister in office, Caffier has accepted an advantage by handing over the pistol. According to the investigators, there are no indications that he had provided a “consideration”.

The opposition criticized “a policy of walling up and covering up” in the Ministry of the Interior. The scandal surrounding the purchase of weapons must also be further clarified politically.

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