German health minister in focus over mask contract

BERLIN: Germany’s health minister came under the spotlight on Sunday over reports that her husband’s company sold masks to the ministry, as a row over mask contracts dogging Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives refused to die down. Spiegel Online reported that the health ministry run by Jens Spahn bought 570,000 masks from a company called Burda last year.

A spokesman from Burda told Spiegel that the company had helped to procure masks in April last year, when governments across the world were desperately scrambling to get hold of the mouth and nose covering. The spokesman added that Funke was neither involved nor implicated in the deal.