Regensburg party donation affair

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The Regensburg party donation affair (also Regensburg corruption affair or Regensburg bribery affair ) describes a political affair in Regensburg , in the center of which the former Regensburg mayor Joachim Wolbergs (until April 29, 2019 SPD , since April 11, 2019 electoral association "Bridge - Ideas Connect People"), his predecessor Hans Schaidinger ( CSU ), the construction company Bauteam Tretzel and now also the Regensburg real estate center .

backgrounds

SSV Jahn

In 2005 SSV Jahn Regensburg was facing bankruptcy. At the request of the then Lord Mayor Hans Schaidinger, the entrepreneur Volker Tretzel supported the association financially. Most recently it should have been around one million euros a year. In a letter to the city on the occasion of the scope of social housing in planned construction projects, Tretzel is said to have referred to his financial support of the SSV Jahn. When asked by the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Tretzel said that it was important to him to inform the city administration that he was already significantly committed to community purposes, in particular through the support of SSV Jahn, even without additional social housing.

From October 2009 Wolbergs was a member of the association's supervisory board ; from June 2014 to November 2018 as Chairman of the Supervisory Board .

Election campaign 2014

In the municipal elections in Bavaria in 2014 , Wolbergs applied as an SPD candidate for the office of Lord Mayor. Since the long-time incumbent Hans Schaidinger (CSU) did not run for re-election for reasons of age, Christian Schlegl was his CSU rival candidate.

According to Wolberg in June 2016, at his request, the financing of the election campaign was handled by his local club so that he could better control it. He asked many people for support, which is why the SPD received significantly more donations than in previous years.

According to its chairman Franz Rieger, the CSU district association of Regensburg received around 90,000 euros (divided into several donations between 30 and 20,000 euros) from the same companies during the election campaign.

Allocation of land in 2014

After taking office on May 1, 2014, Wolbergs initiated the reallocation of the land on the former Nibelungen barracks the next day . In October 2014, the city council decided to award three of these land to the company BTT Bauteam Tretzel GmbH from Volker Tretzel, although the latter had not submitted the cheapest offer. In November 2014, the CSU city council group lodged a legal supervisory complaint with the government of the Upper Palatinate , which it rejected.

City building Regensburg

As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported in July 2016, the Stadtbau-GmbH Regensburg , a 100% subsidiary of the city of Regensburg , hired the former managing director of the Tretzel company, Franz Wild, as the new technical manager . The CSU - Group in Regensburg Town Hall requested to make the appointment reversed; the application was rejected with the votes of the coalition made up of the SPD , Greens , Free Voters and FDP .

The donations to the SPD and their becoming known

According to research by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bayerischer Rundfunk , Wolbergs is said to have received unusually high and possibly veiled party donations not only in 2013 and 2014, "but also during his later term in office."

The three construction companies are said to have donated 618,000 euros to the SPD local association Regensburg Stadtsüden , of which Wolbergs is chairman , over several years . More than 300,000 euros are said to come from the Tretzel company. Tretzel, his company and nine other people from his environment are said to have donated 9,900 euros each year from 2013 to 2015 (and another four times 9,900 euros by April 2016), which means that the donations exceed the publication limit according to Section 25 (3) of the Political Parties Act (10,000 euros) would have fallen below. It is suspected that the employees subsequently received the donations back from their employer as a salary supplement. This is said to have been organized by the future technical director of Stadtbau-GmbH Regensburg. Wolbergs himself is said to have received " monetary benefits for himself and those close to him " from the entrepreneur in the amount of around 79,000 euros.

The state treasurer of the BayernSPD, Thomas Goger , checked the statement of accounts of the local association Regensburg-Süd and on February 8th, 2016 sent an official statement regarding the possibly illegal donation practice to the public prosecutor's office in Bamberg .

Criminal law processing

On June 14, 2016, the Regensburg public prosecutor's office initiated an investigation against Lord Mayor Wolbergs (SPD), initially on suspicion of taking or granting an advantage . There is an initial suspicion that Wolbergs exercised its influence unilaterally in the interests of the company through the donations. Investigations have also been initiated against the three construction companies. For them the suspicion of granting advantages is in the room. In the Real Estate Center Regensburg there were searches . As the public prosecutor in Regensburg announced on January 18, 2017, Wolbergs is now being investigated on suspicion of bribery , a building contractor on suspicion of bribery and another person on suspicion of aiding and abetting bribery. For this purpose, a 13-member investigation team of the Regensburg criminal police was formed. City councils, party members and officials, more than 80 people in total, were questioned. The State Criminal Police Office of Bavaria began to evaluate more than 2 million emails .

Arrests and searches

On January 18, 2017, the Wolbergs and two other suspects , Volker Tretzel and the technical director of Stadtbau-GmbH Regensburg, were arrested. Because of the danger of collusion they should in detention remain. According to the press spokesman for the Regensburg public prosecutor's office, Theo Ziegler, there was "an urgent suspicion [...] that the three accused had already acted massively on witnesses in an unfair manner and would continue to do so without the execution of pre-trial detention in order to make it more difficult to determine the truth" . Tretzel is also said to have been in danger of fleeing . Searches were also carried out. After an examination date on February 1, 2017, the district court of Regensburg ordered the Wolbergs to remain in custody. On February 28, 2017, the Regional Court of Regensburg suspended the arrest warrant from the Regensburg District Court dated January 16, 2017 against Wolbergs, and on February 10, 2017, the arrest warrant against the former technical director of Stadtbau-GmbH Regensburg, each subject to conditions.

The public prosecutor's office in Regensburg announced on November 8, 2017 that another entrepreneur from the real estate industry was taken into custody on suspicion of having bribed Joachim Wolbergs in two cases because of the risk of blackout. The entrepreneur is also accused of granting advantages in another case.

At the beginning of January 2018, the private rooms of the former mayor Hans Schaidinger (CSU) were searched.

On February 15, 2018 "[...] the office of the CSU district association Regensburg-Stadt and the living quarters of the Christian Schlegl (CSU) city council were searched."

In June 2018, the rooms of the CSU state parliament member Franz Rieger were searched; According to the press release of the Regensburg public prosecutor's office, Rieger is to "ask an entrepreneur from the Regensburg construction and real estate industry in a personal interview for a donation for the 2013 state election campaign in the amount of 60,000 EUR and this demand with a reference to future decisions Have connected building areas and building permits in Regensburg. "

Investigations, charges and judgments

Joachim Wolbergs and Volker Tretzel

On July 27, 2017, the Regensburg public prosecutor announced in a press release against Joachim Wolbergs for taking bribes, accepting benefits and violating the political party law, against Volker Tretzel for bribery, granting benefits and violating the political party law, and against the former leader of the SPD in the Regensburg city council , Norbert Hartl, as an assistant in bribery of the Lord Mayor and complicit in anti-competitive agreements in tenders, to have brought charges to the Commercial Criminal Chamber of the Regional Court of Regensburg. Wolbergs' defense attorney also issued a press release in which he criticized, among other things, the investigative methods of the public prosecutor's office. For example, the defense would not have been granted access to the files or not to the agreed extent before the indictment was brought, and the defense would not have received any copies of the audio files obtained in the course of the telecommunications surveillance, despite a court order. On August 1, 2017, the Regensburg public prosecutor announced that they had in the meantime handed over the audio recordings to Wolbergs' defense.

On March 1, 2018, the Regional Court of Regensburg announced that the main proceedings were being opened against Wolbergs, Tretzel, their former employees and city councilor Norbert Hartl for accepting or granting benefits and for violating the party law. Accusations of corruption or bribery as well as the anti-competitive agreements in tenders are not tenable at least at the moment. All arrest warrants (which had already been suspended) were overturned.

The process began on September 24, 2018. 98 days of negotiations were planned.

On May 6, 2019, the public prosecutor's office pleaded for four years and six months imprisonment for both Wolbergs and Tretzel due to bribery, acceptance of benefits and violations of party law. A prison sentence of three years was requested for a former employee of Tretzel. The defense of Wolbergs, however, pleaded for acquittal on May 20, 2019, because there was neither evidence nor incriminating testimony, but only circumstantial evidence.

On July 3, 2019, Wolbergs was acquitted on all major charges. In two cases - the court judged this to be a “mistake in the prohibition” - he was found guilty of accepting benefits totaling € 150,000. The court refrained from sentencing him, as the proceedings "virtually ruined" him. However, the provisional impeachment remained in effect. The public prosecutor's office immediately announced a revision of the judgment, as did Wolbergs.

Volker Tretzel was sentenced to a prison sentence of ten months on probation and a fine of € 500,000, payable to 10 non-profit organizations at € 50,000 each, for granting advantages and violating the political party law. Tretzel's former employee was fined 180 daily rates as the organizer of the illegal donations. Norbert Hartl was acquitted. Volker Tretzel and his former colleague appealed against their judgments.

At the beginning of October 2019, a second corruption process began against Wolbergs at the Regensburg Regional Court. The public prosecutor's office is accused of taking bribes and accepting benefits; In this process, too, donations from the construction industry to Wolbergs' former SPD local association are the focus. Three contractors are also charged.

Christian Schlegl

On May 2, 2019, it became known that the Regensburg public prosecutor had brought charges against the CSU city councilor Christian Schlegl. She accuses him of aiding and abetting tax evasion, violation of the political party law and unofficial false testimony. The CSU parliamentary group announced that Schlegl was leaving his offices in the parliamentary group.

Thomas Dietlmeier

The former managing director of Immobilien Zentrum AG (IZ), Thomas Dietlmeier, was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a "six-figure fine" in two cases in criminal warrant proceedings for bribing Wolberg and granting advantages . The public prosecutor justified the criminal order procedure with a comprehensive statement (including self-incriminating content) from Dietlmeier. Wolbergs' defense attorney criticized the penalty order as tactically motivated and suspected a " deal " between Dietlmeier and the public prosecutor.

Hans Schaidinger

The public prosecutor's office carried out preliminary investigations against him because of an advisory contract that the former mayor Hans Schaidinger concluded with Volker Tretzel's company in autumn 2014 . His fee should add up to several hundred thousand euros. The purchase of an apartment for the Tretzel company by Schaidinger's daughter is also said to have been the subject of the investigation. On January 20, 2017, it became known that the public prosecutor's office had in the meantime also initiated an investigation against Schaidinger. In addition, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Schaidinger on January 25, 2017 by the Bavarian State Attorney's Office. In August 2019, the Regensburg public prosecutor closed the investigation against Schaidinger for suspected corruption. Investigations into a building permit from 2013 are ongoing. In April 2020, all investigations against Schaidinger were closed.

Statements of those concerned

At the start of the investigation in June 2016, Wolbergs wrote to the Nuremberg Public Prosecutor's Office that the allegations were unfounded. He asked the Landesanwaltschaft a disciplinary procedure against himself, hoping to be able to relieve. This announced on January 27, 2017 that Wolbergs would be temporarily removed from service.

BTT Bauteam Tretzel GmbH announced at the end of June 2016: “Donations in the political field were never only made to one applicant or one party, but were spread across the spectrum of Regensburg's political landscape. This alone explains why these donations could never be aimed at specific consideration from individual political mandate holders. Such were and are not there. "

The managing director of the Regensburg real estate center , Wolfgang Herzog, stated that he had donated money to the SPD as well as the CSU and social associations. The allegations of having received advantages for the donations are unfounded.

Web links

Individual evidence

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  2. ^ Bribery affair - charges brought against Regensburg OB. Die Welt , July 27, 2017, accessed on July 28, 2017 .
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  4. ↑ Andreas Wenleder, Sebastian Grosser: Wolbergs wants to create with the "bridge" the re-election as mayor. In: br.de. April 11, 2019, accessed May 9, 2019 .
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  12. ^ A b Uli Scherr: CSU received 90,000 euros from real estate companies. Bayerischer Rundfunk, June 20, 2016, accessed on January 18, 2017 .
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  25. ^ Search of Regensburg's ex-mayor Schaidinger. Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 16, 2018, accessed on February 21, 2018 .
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  27. ↑ Party donation affair - Franz Rieger's rooms searched. BR.de =, June 19, 2018, archived from the original on January 29, 2019 ; accessed on August 18, 2018 .
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  43. ^ Regensburg: Public prosecutor's office is investigating ex-Mayor Schaidinger. Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 20, 2017, accessed on January 20, 2017
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