A senior German minister has resigned 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.
The resignation of Agriculture Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich could aggravate tensions in Berlin's new "grand coalition" at a time when it is trying to push through complex reforms of pensions and renewable energy.
"The pressure on me has grown so much in the last couple of hours that I no longer think I can do the job in the argriculture ministry with the required concentration, calm and political support," Friedrich told a hastily-called news conference.
The resignation follows questions about whether Friedrich, a member of Merkel's Bavarian sister party, inappropriately passed on confidential information about a possible investigation into a prominent Social Democrat (SPD) lawmaker to the leader of his party.
Friedrich was interior minister in the previous centre-right government at the time.
It emerged this week that the SPD lawmaker, Sebastian Edathy, is the target of an investigation by prosecutors, who suspect him of being in possession of child pornography, an accusation he has vigorously denied.
The 44-year-old Edathy resigned from parliament last week, citing health reasons, and has threatened to sue a newspaper that reported on the probe earlier this week.
What started as a small domestic scandal about a member of parliament erupted into a major political scandal on Thursday when it emerged that Friedrich, who was interior minister until December, had informed SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel in October that Edathy could become the target of a probe.
Gabriel then passed that on to other senior members of his party.
Prosecutors in Hanover, who are investigating Edathy, have complained that the leaking of information about their probe may have compromised their case.
Edathy appears to have been given advance warning of the investigation, Hanover prosecutor Joerg Froehlich told a news conference on Friday.
As a result, German media have reported, relevant information on Edathy's computers may have been destroyed. "We're hopelessly behind," said Froehlich.
Friedrich has said he believes he acted in accordance with the law by informing the SPD, which was in coalition talks with Merkel's conservatives at the time and may have been considering giving Edathy a senior post in the new government.