The ongoing investigations into Berlin’s former health senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD) led to all sorts of whispers among the Social Democrats at the weekend – but the comrades did not comment publicly. And the coalition partners of the Greens and Left Party did not make any statements when asked after the suspicion of corruption became known.
The main opposition party became more explicit. “The process stands for the decades-long system of the SPD in Berlin,” said the chairman of the health committee in the House of Representatives, Christian Gräff (CDU). “It is remarkable that the investigations against a senator – initially she was still in office – are only becoming public these days.” This is all the more true given that Kalayci’s apartment was searched in April 2022.
As the Tagesspiegel reported on Friday, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating Kalayci on suspicion of taking advantage. The procedure was initiated in November 2021, when Kalayci was formally still in office for a few weeks as a senator.
The facts must be fully and transparently clarified.
Florian Kluckerthealth policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group
The origin of the process lies in the middle of Kalayci’s tenure as health senator, which began after the 2016 election: Kalayci is said to have contributed to this, so it is suspected that the Senate Health Administration commissioned a communications agency in 2020 that had previously worked privately for Kalayci in 2019.
The health policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Florian Kluckert, said: “The presumption of innocence applies. However, the facts must be fully and transparently clarified.”
Two MPs suggested that the reluctance among the SPD, Greens and Left Party could be related to the fact that an employee of the Senate Labor Department led by Katja Kipping (Left Party) is currently being investigated on suspicion of taking advantage. It is not known whether the suspect is close to one of the ruling parties.
A spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor confirmed the events on Friday. Kalayci did not comment, the presumption of innocence applies. A law firm commissioned by her said that it was assumed that the facts would be clarified and the proceedings would be discontinued.
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