The public prosecutor's offices in Berlin and the city of Cottbus in Brandenburg to the south-east of the capital are continuing to investigate employees of the German Foreign Office, spokeswomen from the respective authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
In order to protect the investigations, "no further information" could be provided at present, said the spokeswoman of the Berlin authority. Her colleague in Brandenburg made an almost identical statement.
According to a report in Focus news magazine, officials at the authority headed by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are suspected of having instructed employees at German embassies and consulates to authorize applicants with incomplete or obviously forged documents to enter Germany.
Several thousand people have entered the country in this way over the past five years, the Focus report said.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said that the three known investigations by the Berlin and Cottbus public prosecutor's offices concerned individual cases in which there were questions about the documents used to enter the country.
The Foreign Office had reacted to the individual cases known to it with organizational measures, it said.
Around a year ago, the magazine Cicero reported on proceedings launched on suspicion of obstruction of justice. According to the Berlin public prosecutor's office, the events are "congruent."
At the time, Cicero reported that a former employee of the German Interior Ministry had filed a criminal complaint against officials at the Foreign Office.
The public prosecutor's office was investigating on suspicion of obstruction of justice in connection with the fact that an Afghan was to be brought to Germany.
In June 2023, the Berlin public prosecutor's office announced that an initial suspicion had been confirmed. At that time, the investigation proceedings were still directed against unknown persons. That has since changed.