The ex-head of Germany's refugee agency has alleged he told Angela Merkel about the excessive demands placed on staff. A BAMF official is facing allegations she received bribes in exchange for processing asylum requests.
Image: Reuters/R. Marchante
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The former head of Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has alleged he twice warned Chancellor Angela Merkel about the excessive workload and demands being placed on agency staff.
Frank-Jürgen Weise told Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he had expressed his grievances during face-to-face talks with Merkel over how asylum requests were managed at BAMF.
After heading the federal refugee agency between October 2015 and December 2016, Weise also wrote two reports for the federal government on his experiences at the helm of BAMF.
According to Bild am Sonntag, which claims to have seen the reports, Weise alleged that new management, called in to help BAMF meet the demands posed by the influx of refugees, had "never witnessed a government agency in such a bad state of affairs."
German asylum scandal: A timeline
Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is under fire over allegations that officials in some branches may have accepted bribes in exchange for granting asylum. Thousands of cases will be re-examined.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
Corruption scandal at BAMF
On April 20, 2018, a number of employees at the regional BAMF office in Bremen were accused of having illegally accepted hundreds of asylum applicants between 2013 and 2017, mainly from Iraq's Yazidi community. Bremen public prosecutors announced that six people, including the former director of the Bremen BAMF office, were under investigation for alleged corruption in about 1,200 cases.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Geisler-Fotopress
Damage control
Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reacted swiftly to the allegations, saying it would be wrong to speculate on what consequences the incident could have for the BAMF immigration offices. He said that the "extremely serious allegations" would first have to be resolved. The BAMF scandal could be a major embarrassment to Chancellor Merkel's open-door policy to refugees.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
The plot thickens
A few weeks into the scandal, German media reported that 13 further regional BAMF branches were going to be subject to checks regarding their approval of asylum applications. The branches had apparently come under scrutiny for showing noticeable differences in the number of asylum applications accepted or rejected in comparison to other offices. Some 8,000 applications will have to be re-checked.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
BAMF head under fire
A month into the scandal, details emerged that BAMF had been informed about the possible improprieties in Bremen earlier than thought, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported. The irregularities were reportedly flagged back in February 2017. In the light of the growing scandal, BAMF head Jutta Cordt announced that some 18,000 asylum decisions made in Bremen since 2000 now had to be re-checked.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Seehofer to face parliamentary committee
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer meanwhile confirmed that he would testify before a special meeting of the Bundestag internal affairs committee to be convened at the request of the Green Party. The committee hopes to avoid a full-blown parliamentary investigation, which two other opposition parties — the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the center-right FDP — are calling for.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
Man of the hour
This might be the man who would have to answer some serious questions if a comprehensive parliamentary inquiry should be launched. Thomas de Maiziere was Germany's interior minister until the beginning of the year, overseeing the management of asylum application at the height of the refugee crisis. De Maiziere, an ally of Merkel's, criticized the shortcomings of the assessment system in the past.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Schreiber
Stripped of authority
On May 23, the German Interior Ministry prohibited the regional BAMF office in Bremen from deciding whether individual refugees will be given asylum in the country. Seehofer said an internal BAMF report had shown that "legal regulations and internal policies" had been "disregarded" at the center.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Assanimoghaddam
Federal Police join probe
The city of Bremen has said Germany's Federal Criminal Police are now part of the inquiry into the wide-ranging corruption. The decision came after a crisis meeting on the scandal surrounding the city's asylum procedure for refugees.
"The question that arises is how nobody could possibly have noticed the state of the agency's IT systems and procedural operations," Weise said. "It is inexplicable how, given the situation, it could be assumed that BAMF would be able to cope with the considerable influx in refugees."
Weise added that he had sent his findings to officials at the Interior Ministry.
A ministry spokesperson confirmed the existence of Weise's report and said many of his suggestions had "found their way into current works aimed at improving the situation."
Refugees seek integration through employment
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BAMF engulfed in asylum bribery scandal
The BAMF is currently engulfed in scandal after a regional officer in Bremen was placed under investigation over allegations she granted asylum to some 1,200 migrants, possibly in exchange for bribes, between 2013 and 2016.
The accused, identified under German privacy laws only as Ulrike B., has described the allegations as "nonsense."
Four other employees at Bremen's BAMF office are also under investigation for alleged corruption.
Regardless of whether Ulrike B. is found guilty or not, the incident has cast a light on the unprecedented strains placed on Germany's refugee agency offices following the huge influx of asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East, that arrived in Germany beginning in the late summer of 2015.
According to officials, there is still a backlog of some 50,000 asylum applications.
