German
minister commits suicide after 'virus crisis worries
Sunday, 29 Mar
2020
Frankfurt
am Main (AFP): Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany's Hesse state,
has committed suicide apparently after becoming "deeply worried" over
how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus, state premier
Volker Bouffier said Sunday (March 29).
Schaefer,
54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution's
office said they believe he died by suicide.
"We
are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad,"
Bouffier said in a recorded statement.
Hesse
is home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche
Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The European Central Bank is also
located in Frankfurt.
A visibly shaken Bouffier recalled that Schaefer, who was Hesse's finance chief
for 10 years, had been working "day and night" to help companies and
workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.
"Today
we have to assume that he was deeply worried," said Bouffier, a close ally
of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"It's
precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like
him," he added.
Popular
and well-respected, Schaefer had long been touted as a possible successor to
Bouffier.
Like
Bouffier, Schaefer belonged to Merkel's centre-right CDU party.
He
leaves behind a wife and two children. - AFP
.
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