EU Commission Chief Faces Investigation by German Public Prosecutor
A public prosecutor is looking into corruption allegations
surrounding President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
and her dubious procurement of 1.8 billion Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
Under media questioning, the Mönchengladbach public prosecutor’s office confirmed the news in a Junge Freiheit exclusive. It comes after an announcement
in early April that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) was
launching a probe into allegations of corruption and destruction of
evidence.
The ‘Pfizergate’
scandal has been ongoing since early 2022 when it was revealed that von
der Leyen privately brokered a pharmaceutical deal worth an estimated
€35 billion—an official figure has never been released—via text messages
with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. Subsequently, she claimed to have
deleted all the messages for ‘security reasons’.
Serious conflict of interest questions arose when it was revealed
that her husband, Heiko von der Leyen, was head of the U.S.-based
biotech company Orgenesis, which had partnered with Pfizer to help
develop and test its vaccine’s mRNA component, calling into question her
neutrality on the matter.
The German investigation came only after continued insistence by
management consultant and entrepreneur Michael Immel who, together with
others, had filed a criminal complaint against the EU Commission chief
back in May 2023.
However, this complaint was initially rejected by the Mönchengladbach
public prosecutor’s office. Immel sought to have this decision
overturned by the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf, where his
appeal was successful. Subsequently, the Mönchengladbach authorities
were instructed to pursue an investigation.
Regardless of how von der Leyen fares on the legal front, things are looking anything but rosy
for the embattled chief commissioner. The fast-approaching European
elections on June 9th are likely to see a sovereigntist parliamentary
contingent achieve substantial growth—undercutting her ambition to
return as EU Commission President.
This is not von der Leyen’s first scandal. In March 2016,
she survived a formal investigation by Hannover Medical School,
prompted by revelations that over 40% of the pages in her doctoral
thesis contained instances of plagiarism.
