Christoph Boehr

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Christoph Böhr (born February 1, 1954 in Mayen ) is a former German politician ( CDU ). In connection with the party financing affair of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU for the state election campaign 2005/2006, Böhr, who withdrew from politics in 2009, was sentenced to a suspended sentence in 2013 for infidelity.

Christoph Böhr, 2005

Life

Education and academic background

After graduating from high school at the humanistic Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium Trier in 1972, Böhr studied philosophy , German , modern history and political science at the universities of Trier and Mainz . In 1980 and 1984 he passed his state exams. From 1980 he worked as a research assistant at the University of Trier and from 1981 to 1983 at the Scientific Services of the German Bundestag . Christoph Böhr then worked as a research assistant on the research project " Immanuel Kant and the philosophy of the late Enlightenment " at the University of Trier. Subsequently, he took on activities as a consultant in advanced training until 1987. Böhr was founded in 2000 with a thesis on the philosophy of the German late Enlightenment in the Age of Kant at Norbert Hinske at Trier University doctorate . From 2007 to 2010 he was chairman of the Cusanus Society named after Nikolaus von Kues . Christoph Böhr has been active in academic teaching since 2008. His focus is on political theory , social philosophy and anthropology . In 2009 Christoph Böhr was appointed a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Ethos magazine in Lublin . Since 2011 he has been the editor of the book series The Image of People and the Order of Society at VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften Wiesbaden .

Böhr had been a guest lecturer at the Institute for Philosophy of the Philosophical-Theological University Benedict XVI since the winter semester 2010/11 . at Heiligenkreuz (Lower Austria) . Since the 2015/16 winter semester he has been an associate professor for contemporary philosophical issues at the only active religious university in Austria .

Party career

At the age of 16, Böhr joined the Junge Union (JU) in 1970 ; from 1979 he was active in the federal executive committee of the JU. In 1983 he was elected JU federal chairman. After his election to the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament in 1987, he handed this office over to Hermann Gröhe in 1989 . In the state parliament, he initially acted as the financial and budgetary spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group . In 1993, Böhr was elected chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. As agreed, he gave this office in 1995 to the then top candidate and CDU state chairman Johannes Gerster . However, he remained his deputy in the parliamentary group. After Gerster's withdrawal from active politics after the CDU's election defeat in 1996, Böhr again took over the chairmanship of the parliamentary group and was also elected regional chairman of his party.

Böhr was elected the top candidate for the 2001 state elections. In this case, Böhr could not prevail against Prime Minister Beck (SPD), instead the CDU slumped with 35.3 percent of the votes to the worst result in its history.

Despite this defeat, Böhr remained in his offices. He belongs to the so-called Andean Pact , a grouping of former leaders of the Junge Union. From 1998 to 2006 he also chaired the conference of parliamentary group chairmen of the CDU and CSU of the federal and state governments.

In the run-up to the state elections in 2006 , a number of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU district chairmen tried to persuade Böhr to resign from another top candidate.

In the subsequent first member survey in the history of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU, he prevailed against its initiator, Trier district chairman Peter Rauen , and was then elected as the top candidate for the 2006 state election. After the CDU had achieved the worst result in its history in Rhineland-Palatinate with 32.8% and the SPD under Kurt Beck was able to achieve an absolute majority for the first time, he resigned as CDU state chairman and chairman of the CDU on election day CDU parliamentary group back.

In addition to his state political work as opposition leader from 1993 to 2006, Böhr was active in federal politics: As the founding chairman of the CDU Values ​​Commission in Germany from 1999 to 2006 and as deputy national chairman from 2002 to 2006. Böhr is the author of numerous books. His topics are mostly at the interface of political and philosophical questions. He writes articles and comments for various national German newspapers.

On February 18, 2009, Böhr announced his retirement from politics. His successor in the state parliament was the chairman of the Trier CDU city council group, Bertrand Adams .

Party financing affair of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU

As early as the end of 2008, the Rhineland-Palatinate Court of Auditors had checked whether the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate had misappropriated parliamentary group funds amounting to 385,000 euros for the 2005/2006 state election campaign. More detailed investigations, including statements by the then managing director of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU parliamentary group, Markus Hebgen , then in April 2010 (report by the Court of Auditors) brought to light alleged illegal party financing by the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate from 2004, so that the Mainz public prosecutor's office in early May 2010 started an investigation.

The Düsseldorf communications agency C4 Consulting GmbH - the managing director was the Hamburg Senator for Finance Carsten Frigge (CDU) , who has since stepped down (together with Anabel Houben - 50/50) - advised the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU in the state election campaign in 2005 and 2006. The fees charged for this activity in the amount of 385,918.40 euros were not paid from the party but from the CDU parliamentary group fund. However, parliamentary group funds are predominantly tax revenues that may not be used for party purposes, which is why use for election campaign purposes is prohibited under the Party Law . The sum is therefore to be regarded as an illegal party donation by the CDU parliamentary group to the regional association of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate.

After further investigations by the Mainz public prosecutor's office, the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate then had to admit on December 20, 2010 that it had illegally financed its election campaign in 2006. The then General Secretary of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate, Josef Rosenbauer , admitted - after inspecting the investigation files of the Mainz public prosecutor's office: "The agency C4 Consulting provided its consulting services in 2005/2006, apparently mainly for the election campaign of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate. " And: " The payments are legally to be qualified as inadmissible party donations. " The party announced that it would immediately pay the illegally used 401 084.32 euros to the Bundestag. The total of 401,084.32 euros results from the 385,000 euros paid to C4 Consulting GmbH , as well as invoices from three other consulting agencies that were also illegally paid from the parliamentary group's cash register. Because of this violation of Section 25, Paragraph 2, No. 1 of the PartG, President Norbert Lammert of the Bundestag (CDU) issued a sanction notice against the CDU on December 23, 2010. According to Section 31c (1) sentence 1 of the PartG , the party was entitled to three times the unlawfully obtained amount. As a result, the CDU was obliged to pay a fine of 1,203,252.96 euros to the Bundestag. The CDU wants to pay the million dollar fine with money that comes from the sale of the party building on Rheinallee in Mainz.

The party chairman and top candidate of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate for the state elections on March 27, 2011 Julia Klöckner distanced herself from Christoph Böhr. The board of the regional association of the CDU also announced that it might initiate legal steps against the then party and parliamentary group chairman Christoph Böhr.

At the end of June 2010 until shortly before the Rhineland-Palatinate state election in 2011, the financial affair was the subject of an investigative committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, which was supposed to shed light on the use and handling of funds by the CDU parliamentary group in the years 2003 to 2006 (investigative committee 15 / 3 - Designation: "CDU parliamentary group finances 2003-2006" ). The CDU had filed a lawsuit against the establishment of the U-Committee, but the lawsuit had been dismissed by the Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate .

Indictment and Trial

On October 10, 2012, the Mainz Public Prosecutor brought charges of breach of trust against Böhr. On September 3, 2013 the trial began against him, against the former Rhineland-Palatinate CDU parliamentary group manager Markus Hebgen, the former CDU general secretary Friedrich Claudius Schlumberger and against Carsten Frigge , Hamburg's former Senator for Finance (CDU) and managing director of the Düsseldorf communications agency C 4 Consulting GmbH .

According to the Mainz public prosecutor's office, Christoph Böhr and Markus Hebgen are guilty of infidelity at the expense of the CDU parliamentary group. In the Rhineland-Palatinate state election campaign in 2006, they are said to have used funds from the parliamentary group to finance the party's expenses. Should this be proven, they would have violated their duty to look after the faction's assets and thereby caused a loss of around 385,000 euros. Carsten Frigge, as managing director of the commissioned Düsseldorf consulting firm C4 Consulting GmbH , is said to have provided assistance in this regard by invoicing for consulting services and the like. a. to have issued to the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU parliamentary group without any corresponding services being provided. Friedrich Claudius Schlumberger, the fourth defendant, is said to have been aware of the use of the funds as a former general secretary of the party, but in breach of duty withholding this from the party's state board. This should result in a total damage of approx. 1.1 million euros were caused.

judgment

On December 2, 2013, the Mainz Regional Court sentenced Christoph Böhr to 22 months probation for breach of trust. Böhr was not the only one who had to face the consequences: the former parliamentary group manager Markus Hebgen received a suspended sentence of 15 months. The former CDU general secretary Claudius Schlumberger received an eight-month suspended sentence and the former Hamburg Senator Carsten Frigge was sentenced to a fine of 30,000 euros (150 daily rates) for aiding and abetting infidelity. Böhr, Schlumberger and Frigge and the Mainz public prosecutor appealed to the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. Hebgen waived appeal.

The state CDU Rhineland-Palatinate is now examining whether it can raise claims for damages against Christoph Böhr. Böhr is responsible for the illegal party financing, explained the current CDU General Secretary Patrick Schnieder . "Whether he is to be taken into recourse for this is to be checked as soon as the judgment becomes final." You have to do this in order not to make yourself liable to prosecution. In connection with the Mainz CDU affair, Bundestag President Norbert Lammert (CDU) had already imposed a fine of 1.2 million euros on the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU in December 2010 for illegal party funding, which was paid to the Bundestag administration in 2011. The CDU had to pay 386,000 euros to the state parliament.

On December 11, 2014, the Federal Court of Justice rejected Christoph Böhr and Carsten Fricke's appeals against the judgment of the Mainz Regional Court, so that their convictions for violating the law on political parties became final. Böhr's lawyer announced a complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court. At the same time, however, following the appeal by the Mainz public prosecutor's office, the Federal Court of Justice overturned the judgment of the Mainz Regional Court, insofar as the defendants were acquitted of the charge of attempted fraud with false information at the Rhineland-Palatinate State Audit Office. Another criminal chamber of the Mainz Regional Court has to decide on this again.

Web links

Commons : Christoph Böhr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: Christoph Böhr  - in the news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on Böhr. In: Heiligenkreuz University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved August 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Former CDU boss Böhr withdraws from politics. ( Memento from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Allgemeine Zeitung from February 18, 2009
  3. ↑ CDU politician Böhr resigns from the state parliament. Rhein-Zeitung from February 18, 2009
  4. ↑ Ex-CDU state chief Böhr resigns from office. swr.de
  5. ↑ party funding. Where's the brown envelope? faz.net, November 17, 2008
  6. ↑ Financial affair in the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate. Tagesspiegel, December 22, 2010
  7. ↑ campaign funds . CDU regional association of Rhineland-Palatinate threatens bankruptcy. Spiegel-Online, November 1, 2008
  8. ↑ Rhineland-Palatinate. CDU facing financial disaster. Süddeutsche Zeitung, November 1, 2008
  9. ↑ Financial chaos at the CDU. Income and expenses mixed up. Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 6, 2010
  10. ↑ Illegal party funding. CDU Rhineland-Palatinate threatens proceedings. Spiegel-Online, April 19, 2010
  11. ↑ Investigations against members of the former CDU parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate and others for breach of trust. Press release of the Mainz public prosecutor's office on May 5, 2010
  12. ↑ Illegal party funding. Public prosecutor investigates Hamburg Senator for Finance. Spiegel-Online, May 5, 2010
  13. ^ House search at C4 Consulting and Allendorf Media. pr-journal, May 7, 2010
  14. ^ House search of the Senator of Finance Carsten Frigge. Hamburger Abendblatt, May 5, 2010
  15. ↑ Homepage of C4 Consulting GmbH
  16. ↑ Financial affair in the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate. Tagesspiegel, December 22, 2010
  17. ↑ CDU has to pay a fine of 1.2 million euros. faz.net, December 23, 2010
  18. ↑ CDU Rhineland-Palatinate wants to pay a penalty of 1.2 million euros “immediately”. Rhein-Zeitung, December 23, 2010
  19. ↑ Financial affair in the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate. Tagesspiegel, December 22, 2010
  20. ↑ Mainz CDU admits illegal party donations
  21. ^ CDU in Rhineland-Palatinate. Current contaminated sites. Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 20, 2010
  22. ↑ CDU admits inadmissible party donations. Frankfurter Rundschau, December 20, 2010
  23. ↑ Rhineland-Palatinate. CDU admits illegal party donations. Handelsblatt, December 20, 2010
  24. ^ Sanction notice due to inadmissible donation by the CDU parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate
  25. ↑ CDU Rhineland-Palatinate wants to pay a penalty of 1.2 million euros “immediately”. Rhein-Zeitung, December 23, 2010
  26. ^ CDU in Rhineland-Palatinate. Current contaminated sites. Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 20, 2010
  27. ↑ Julia Klöckner outraged by the CDU financial affair. Die Welt, December 20, 2010
  28. ↑ Application by SPD member Jochen Hartloff and 52 other members of the SPD from June 15, 2010. Drs. 15/4687 (PDF; 33 kB)
  29. ↑ Investigative committee against CDU parliamentary group is generally permissible - but the investigation mandate is too broad. Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, press release No. 8/2010
  30. ↑ Rhineland-Palatinate. State CDU admits inadmissible party donations. Spiegel-Online, December 20, 2010
  31. ^ Rhineland-Palatinate: Former CDU state chief Böhr indicted. Spiegel Online, October 10, 2012
  32. ^ Indictment against ex-CDU state chairman Böhr. Focus Online, October 10, 2012
  33. ↑ Spiegel-Online September 3, 2013: Former CDU state chief Böhr for infidelity in court
  34. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung September 3, 2013: Ex-CDU top candidate Böhr in court. Suspicious payments
  35. ^ Rhein-Zeitung September 3, 2013: Böhr denies allegation of infidelity
  36. ^ Trial against ex-CDU boss. Böhr has all allegations rejected. swr.de, September 3, 2013
  37. ↑ Regional Court Mainz September 3, 2013: 1st criminal chamber (large criminal chamber) - facts of the proceedings against Böhr u. a. and schedule overview
  38. ↑ faz.net December 3, 2013: verdict against CDU politician Böhr "He just wanted to win the election"
  39. ↑ faz.net:Rheinland-Pfalz, CDU politician Boehr convicted of infidelity
  40. ↑ Spiegel-Online December 3, 2013: Rhineland-Palatinate: Former CDU state chief Böhr receives 22 months' probation
  41. ↑ SWR December 3, 2013: Illegal party financing Suspended sentence for ex-CDU boss Böhr
  42. ↑ Trierischer Volksfreund December 3, 2013: Court sentenced ex-CDU boss Böhr to suspended prison sentence
  43. ↑ Trierischer Volksfreund December 3, 2013: The tragedy continues
  44. ↑ SWR December 3, 2013: Illegal party financing Suspended sentence for ex-CDU boss Böhr
  45. ↑ Handelsblatt December 3, 2013: Violation of political party law. Suspected sentence for CDU politician Böhr
  46. ↑ Trierischer Volksfreund December 3, 2013: Christoph Böhr is now fighting for his money
  47. ↑ Right-hand magnification: Illegal campaign financing in the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU election campaign in 2006
personal data
SURNAME Boehr, Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU), Member of the State Parliament, Deputy Federal Chairman of the CDU 2002–2006
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Mayen , Rhineland-Palatinate