Former german defense minister magically deletes her phone after subpoena

First the mobile phone was "gone", says the opposition. Then the PIN was not available. Now - it is suddenly said - all data has been "security deleted". A scandal within a scandal?

The starting point: the Ministry of Defense is said to have awarded contracts worth millions of euros, bypassing the law on public procurement. A committee of inquiry is trying to find out. Important clues could have been provided by the mobile phone of former Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU).

That was previously unavailable. On Thursday then the bang: As the ARD capital city studio experienced, the vice-government commissioner for the clarification of the affair, Markus Paulick, had to admit in a confidential meeting of the investigating committee that the data on the mobile phone were gone - "security deleted" by the manufacturer and that already in August.

All data seems to be irretrievably lost.

Particularly explosive: before the deletion, the Bundestag is said to have requested that the mobile phone be admitted as evidence.

And also the search for the mobile phone, which broke out afterwards, probably went strangely. FDP member of parliament Alexander Müller speaks of an "annoying delaying tactic" by the government: At first, the ministry had said that the mobile phone was being searched for. Then it was announced that it was still PIN-locked. Now the government has admitted that it had already been "flattened" in August, Müller told "Die Welt".

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Sauce (german):

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/Berateraffaere-im-Verteidigungsministerium-Jemand-hat-von-der-Leyens-Handy-Daten-geloescht,vd-leyen-handy-100.html