By IRNA,
Berlin : An independent investigator criticized the German government for its woeful probe of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) flights, the online site of the weekly stern news magazine reported Tuesday.
A rapporteur for the German BND secret service commission of enquiry into German collusion into the American extraordinary renditions program, Joachim Jacob lashed out at the Berlin government in a secret report, accusing German officials of being responsible for major mishaps, sloppiness and false testimony in probing the CIA scandal.
Jacob who released a 130-page secret report on the case on March 31, also slammed the government for adhering to a legally doubtful position which allows the CIA to illegally transit prisoners through German airspace.
According to Jacobs, CIA prisoner flights should be dealt with like police or military flights and hence also needed to have a permit.
The German Government had reportedly a list of at least 437 flights operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency in German airspace, according to the news magazine Der Spiegel.
The number includes both movements by planes of the CIA spy agency in German airspace and landings at German airports, it claimed.
“Such planes could be used to transfer presumed terrorists and place them in secret locations,” Der Spiegel said.
Berlin has maintained it only knew about any CIA flights from the end of 2004 or the start of 2005, and that it found out through media reports.
Germany has the largest number of US military bases in Europe.