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German prosecutors investigate ex-minister over leak


    BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors have opened an investigation into a former cabinet minister on suspicion of betraying confidential information nearly two weeks after he resigned, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

    Former agriculture minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, a conservative, quit over accusations he leaked confidential information about a fellow lawmaker suspected of possessing child pornography.

    "We have started proceedings", said a spokesman for Berlin prosecutors.

    Friedrich had in October 2013 told the chairman of the Social Democrats (SPD), with whom the conservatives were in coalition talks, that the name of a then SPD lawmaker Sebastian Edathy had come up as part of an international investigation.

    (Reporting by Andreas Rinke)