BERLIN, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The Green party (Gruene) has called for the resignation of the director of Germany's federal office for migration and asylum (Bamf) on Tuesday following revelations of incorrect asylum application procedures at one of the agency's regional branches.
Speaking to the newspaper "Rheinische Post", Luise Amtsberg, refugee policy spokesperson for the Green party, argued that trust in the leadership skills of Bamf director Jutta Cordt had declined as a consequence of her poor management of the developing scandal. If recent claims that she "ignored warnings" or was "inadequately informed" proved true, the position of Cordt as Bamf director was "no longer tenable."
A senior Bamf employee in Bremen stands accused of incorrectly granting humanitarian residency in Germany in thousands of applications by asylum seekers between 2013 and 2017. The Bremen State Prosecution Office confirmed that it was investigating the Bamf employee in question, as well as three attorneys and one translator who are believed to have cooperated systematically in subverting the course of justice.
The suspects face criminal charges of corruption and organized incitement of filing fraudulent asylum applications. A spokesperson for the interior ministry subsequently emphasized that the accusations only concerned an "isolated case."
According to Cordt, so far around 600 reviewed cases handled by the suspected lawyers were found to have severe procedural flaws. Necessary steps would be taken to revoke incorrect asylum decisions, although this would involve a lengthy and complicated judicial process.
Interior minister Horst Seehofer told press on Monday that he would decide shortly whether or not an "organizational or personnel reshuffle" was needed at Bamf in order to conduct a comprehensive assessment of suspicious asylum decisions and restore the reputation of the agency. Seehofer further announced that investigation had by now been extended to ten other Bamf branches with unusually high- or low approval rates in asylum applications.
Seehofer argued that "a lot" would have to change at Bamf, and "not just in Bremen", in response to the scandal. However, Seehofer has also come under heavy attack himself in the affair for allegedly withholding information from the public.
Josefa Schmid, a civil servant who was posted to the Bamf Bremen office as an interim director following the first reports of the scandal, says that she personally informed the minster in March about 3,332 asylum decisions which she believed to be incorrect. By contrast, Seehofer insists that he was not made aware of the findings by Schmid until April.
As a consequence, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alternative for Germany (AfD) are now demanding a public parliamentary enquiry into the matter. Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/(CSU) politicians have highlighted that the independent federal audit office has already been invited to investigate the scandal but have at the same time reiterated that they are open to the idea of a parliamentary enquiry as well.
