A committee of inquiry in Baden-Württemberg is to clarify the accusation that Interior Minister Strobl passed on confidential information. The government and opposition vote in favor of it in the state parliament. The origin is again a possible sexual assault by a police inspector.
The state parliament of Baden-Württemberg, with the votes of both the government and the opposition, set up a committee of inquiry to clarify the affair involving the disclosure of confidential information by Interior Minister Thomas Strobl. The parliament in Stuttgart voted unanimously in favor of it. The committee should also clarify the background to the allegation of sexual abuse against a police inspector in this context.
“Police officers have the right to ensure that their leaders also comply with the law,” said SPD MP Sascha Binder, explaining the SPD and FDP motion. The question is whether it could already have been an abuse of power to make the officer favored by Strobl a police inspector. Strobl is said to have campaigned in advance for the man who was then accused. “The interior minister obviously has a lot to hide,” said FDP faction leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke.
The government factions also surprisingly agreed to the committee under a different name. “Education in the case of sexual abuse is necessary,” said MP Oliver Hildenbrand for the Greens parliamentary group. It affects society as a whole.
Strobl has been under pressure for weeks because he passed on a letter from a lawyer to a journalist in the proceedings. He later denied the prosecutor’s authority against him in the matter.
The committee of inquiry is now to shed light on the actions of Strobl and his ministry in the case of allegations of sexual harassment against the country’s police inspector. In this context, the appraisal, promotion and appointment procedures in the Baden-Württemberg police force are to be examined up to the point at which the police inspector is suspended.
The background are allegations against the state police inspector. The 47-year-old man is said to have offered the promotion in exchange for sex in a video meeting of a detective inspector who wanted to move to higher service. The investigation into the case has been ongoing since December. The officer has been suspended from office.
Strobl admitted to having passed on a letter from the police inspector’s lawyer to a reporter from the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. The public prosecutor’s office is therefore investigating against Strobl and the journalist.
