Habeck officials continue to be targeted
New allegations against State Secretary Philipp
06/13/2023, 2:25 p.m
The quarrels in the Ministry of Economics Minister Habeck never end: In the debate about possible conflicts of interest, further details about State Secretary Udo Phillip are now known. The left accuses Habeck’s ministry of obscuring the clarification of the matter.
There are new allegations of alleged conflicts of interest against another State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Economics, Udo Philipp. Philipp was involved in a total of seven companies through an investment fund that received money from state subsidy programs, reported the “Spiegel”. The ministry therefore rejected the allegations in an answer to a left-wing request from the Bundestag.
According to the information, Philipp holds shares in the private equity fund First Momentum Ventures. This in turn has invested in a number of companies, seven of which are publicly funded. According to “Spiegel”, the funding amounts to higher, six-digit amounts. The biggest financial help of 363,000 euros goes to the startup Dive Solutions. 350,000 euros go to a company called QuantPi, which works on IT solutions for health data.
The Federal Ministry of Economics explained that it was not involved in deciding which startups received support. “There is therefore no conflict of interest,” the magazine quoted the department as saying. State Secretary Philipp had also pointed out that he had no influence on the companies in which the fund manager from First Momentum Ventures invested. In addition, it was emphasized that the funds were not subsidies, but rather a financial participation “with an expectation of repayment”.
According to the “Spiegel” report, left-wing MP Pascal Meiser has a different opinion. He complains that Habeck’s ministry has not sufficiently disclosed Philipp’s indirect holdings in the company and has “only ignited smokescreens”. The conflicts of interest are obviously greater than previously admitted, according to Meiser.
Conflicts of interest on the part of Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen led to his dismissal in May. Among other things, the 51-year-old was accused of nepotism when filling posts. There are also allegations against State Secretary Stefan Wenzel.