Klaus Foerster

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Klaus Förster (* 1933 in Schleswig ; † January 26, 2009 in Bonn ) was a tax investigator and later a tax attorney. He became known for the uncovering of the Flick party donation scandal .

Life

Förster comes from a family of lawyers. After studying law, he became a civil servant in the North Rhine-Westphalian financial administration.

In the mid-1970s, Förster was head of tax investigations at the Sankt Augustin tax office with the rank of government director . A routine process brought him on the trail of a party donation affair , which he persistently pursued and which became known nationwide as the Flick Affair : The Fathers of the St. Augustin Missionaries of Steyler , at the suggestion of Walter Löhr, had made a money laundering system out of their Soverdia order . High-income citizens were able to donate large sums to the order and have 80 percent of them reimbursed under the hand. They received donation receipts that they could submit to reduce taxes. During a house search in the Steyler Mission, Förster also got hold of documents from the Flick group, according to which this group also used the monastery as a money laundering facility for a decade. A total of DM 12.3 million from the group flowed into the coffers of the Steyler Mission.

Förster's investigations soon triggered attempts by his superiors in the financial administration to prevent him from exposing the party donation scandal. However, Förster continued to investigate and also carried out a house search at the headquarters of the Flick Group. Finally, it emerged that in the 1970s, all parties represented in the Bundestag at that time had received donations from the Flick Group in violation of the applicable provisions of the Political Parties Act , some of which were tax-reducing through non-profit -making organizations such as the Citizens' Association .

His tenacity brought Förster professional disadvantages. He was transferred to the Cologne East Tax Office. He complained against this, represented by lawyer Otto Schily , but resigned from civil service in 1983. He worked as a tax lawyer in Bonn.

literature

  • Hans Magnus Enzensberger : Kassensturz. A Bonn memorandum . In: The scandals of the republic , ed. Georg M. Hafner and Edmund Jacoby . Reinbek near Hamburg, 1992, ISBN 3-455-08361-7 , pp. 195-225.
  • Roland Kirbach: Already done too much. The man who brought the Bonn donation affair to light , Die Zeit of July 6, 1984.
  • Hubert Seipel : The man who chased Flick. The history of the tax investigator Klaus Förster , Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-570-05884-0 .
  • Gerd Kröncke: Sidelined because he wanted to know too much , Süddeutsche Zeitung of August 14, 1981.
  • Wolfgang Bittner , Mark vom Hofe: The man who uncovered the Flick affair. Klaus Foerster . In: I meddle. Striking German résumés . Horlemann Verlag, Bad Honnef 2006, ISBN 978-3-89502-222-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alle rich , Der Spiegel 2/1982 of January 11, 1982.
  2. ↑ This idiot made a confession , Der Spiegel 4/1984 of January 30, 1984.
  3. ↑ Tagesspiegel of October 8, 2006: "A man and power"
  4. ↑ Hubert Seipel: A man and the power In: Der Tagesspiegel from October 8, 2006

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Forester, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tax investigator, lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Schleswig
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 2009
Place of death Bonn