Responding through his lawyer to questions from Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper, Mr Lindner, leader of the liberal Free Democratic Union , said he had not kept the matter secret because there was no obligation to disclose the link between mortgages and video.
“Providing a brief greeting on anniversaries such as the centenary of a bank is part of the regular duties of a minister,” said Mr Schertz, adding that the minister views media reports on his mortgages “with composure”. The prosecutor said the probe is focusing on whether there was an initial suspicion of illegal advantage.
Opposition politicians from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union pounced on the claims as “strange”.
Hope it wasn’t too painful
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