A major corruption scandal is stirring in Germany involving the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry, national politicians and a high-altitude spy plane that test pilots say is barely fit to fly.
The affair centers on a $1.92 billion Defense Ministry project called the Lapas surveillance system.A Bavarian firm, Grob Air and Space Travel GmBH, has been designing the turboprop airplane that is to fly the electronics, a wispy-looking aircraft called the "Egrett D-500."
But the Defense Ministry has suspended the project amid allegations that the company owner, Burkhardt Grob, paid for vacations at his Brazilian estate in the 1980s for an air force four-star general.
Grob and the now-retired general, Eberhard Eimler, are under investigation for suspected bribery.
Newspapers say Bavaria's governor, Max Streibl, also attended parties at Grob's South American estate. An investigation of him has not been launched.
Both Streibl and Eimler insist their trips to Grob's hacienda were private and had nothing to do with work.
But the scandal's proportions are growing every day.
Der Spiegel magazine said Monday that Finance Minister Theo Waigel could become caught up in the scandal.