German minister resigns over porn case

BERLIN: Germany’s agriculture minister resigned on Friday amid accusations he leaked confidential information about a fellow lawmaker suspected of possessing child pornography, dealing a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel and her two-month old government.
“I offered my resignation as agriculture minister to the chancellor today,” Hans-Peter Friedrich told a news conference.
The conservative member of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) said the pressure had grown too much for him to stay in office. He said he remained convinced that he had acted appropriately. “To you, ladies and gentlemen, I say ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ — I’ll be back.”
Friedrich, who is from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, was interior minister at the time and is under fire for informing centre-left SPD leaders late last year that prosecutors were investigating their colleague Sebastian Edathy.
Edathy resigned last week, citing health reasons. On his Facebook page, the 44-year-old centre-left politician has denied having any child pornography in his possession.
Friedrich’s spokesman Jens Teschke told a news conference that Friedrich believes he acted in accordance with the law by informing the SPD, which was in coalition talks with Merkel at the time. But if prosecutors take a different view, the minister is ready to resign, Teschke said.
Another center-left lawmaker, Sebastian Edathy, resigned his seat last week, citing health reasons, days before police searched his home and offices.
The head of the Hannover prosecutors’ office, Joerg Froehlich, said Friday the case centers on alleged ordering of pictures of underage boys, though it’s not clear whether they legally constitute child porn. Edathy denies ordering or possessing child porn.
On Thursday, it emerged that Hans-Peter Friedrich, then Germany’s interior minister, told the leader of Edathy’s party in October that Edathy’s name had come up in an investigation. Friedrich, now agriculture minister, said Friday he’s convinced he acted correctly but will quit if prosecutors investigate him.