Uwe Lüthje

Uwe Lüthje (born December 24, 1931 in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee , † February 25, 2003 in Sankt Augustin ) was a German - Austrian economist . From 1971 to 1992 he was the chief representative of the CDU Federal Treasury and in this role he was involved in both the Flick affair and the CDU donation affair .

Life

Together with the federal treasurer of the CDU, Walther Leisler Kiep , and Horst Weyrauch , the party's financial advisor, Lüthje was responsible for the financing of the CDU, especially the election campaigns. They used a so-called escrow account system in which donations, most of which came from industry, were illegally transferred to the Citizens' Association or the Soverdia Society of Steyler Missionaries . They each issued donation receipts for the full amount, while a large part of it was transferred back so that this money could be passed on to the CDU. In the course of the Flick affair , this practice came to the public at the beginning of the 1980s, but Lüthje was only charged with Leisler Kiep in May 1990 for continued aiding and abetting tax evasion; the proceedings were discontinued shortly afterwards due to the statute of limitations.

On the occasion, Horst Weyrauch 65th birthday on 10 September 1997 Uwe Lüthje reportedly said that he and Weyrauch in the investigation because of the CDU donations system in 1986 on the witness stand in front of the Bundestag - committee of inquiry would have testified falsely to Chancellor Helmut Kohl before conviction to preserve false insulting testimony . In contrast to his allegations, which Kohl had made before the investigative committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament , Lüthje reportedly provided him with comprehensive information about the escrow system, in particular about the civic association and its purpose. The Greens - German MP Otto Schily had filed a complaint in this regard, which is why the prosecutor's office was investigating Koblenz cabbage. Weyrauch and Lüthje exonerated the CDU chairman by making false statements, which they had agreed with Kohl, whereupon no charges were brought.

Kohl denied this fact in the course of investigations in 2000 and accused Lüthje of having personally enriched himself. In addition, Lüthje explained at the same time that Kohl had also known that he, Leisler Kiep and Weyrauch, shortly before leaving the CDU treasury in 1992, 1.5 million Swiss francs, which came from the arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber and when a black money was dissolved -Accounts left over should have been divided among themselves.

According to media reports, in a phone call in December 1999, Kohl is said to have put pressure on his former employee to withdraw certain statements in connection with accepting and passing on donations. Lüthje is said to have replied not to lie "this time". In 2000 he stated several times that he was "humanly disappointed by Kohl" and was therefore finally ready to be questioned by the investigative committee of the German Bundestag about the party donation affair. Due to lung cancer, Lüthje was only able to answer the questions in writing in the summer of 2000. Uwe Lüthje died on February 25, 2003 of complications from cancer in his home in Sankt Augustin.

For years Lüthje was monitored by employees of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR , in particular telephone calls were tapped.

Web links

• Bimbes - Helmut Kohl's black cash registers , documentation by Stephan Lamby and Egmont R. Koch , December 4, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ interrogation transcript of testimony by Uwe Lüthje in the trial of Walter Leisler Kiep, published in Bimbes - the slush funds of Helmut Kohl , December 4, 2017
2. ↑ ^{a b} The faithful for dark CDU coffers: Uwe Lüthje is dead . March 3, 2003 ( welt.de [accessed April 5, 2019]).
3. ↑ Dr. Uwe Lüthje, died on February 25, 2003 (obituary notice / obituary notice on Doolia.de). Retrieved April 5, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Edgar Bauer: The loyal man for dark CDU coffers - Uwe Lüthje dead. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. March 3, 2003, accessed April 5, 2019 (German). 
5. ^ Paul Lersch, Hartmut Palmer: SCANDALS: The cultivated landscape . In: Der Spiegel . tape 50 . SPIEGEL-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg December 13, 1999 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 5, 2019]).
6. ↑ Guido Rijkhoek: Walter Leisler Kiep: Rise and Fall. In: manager-magazin.de. January 3, 2006, accessed April 5, 2019 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Christian Bauschke: Once loyal to the Nibelungs, today Kohl's greatest threat: Uwe Lüthje . August 14, 2000 ( welt.de [accessed April 6, 2019]).
8. ↑ Hans Hütt : Late Findings: The Black Coffers of Helmut Kohl . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed April 5, 2019]).
9. ↑ Markus Deggerich: SPIEGEL ONLINE Exclusive: The complete statement by Uwe Lüthje . In: Spiegel Online . January 24, 2001 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 5, 2019]).
10. ↑ Wolfgang Krach , Tina, Hildebrandt, Jürgen Leinemann , Georg Mascolo : Drei Bundeslöschtage . In: Der Spiegel . tape 27 , July 3, 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 6, 2019]).
11. ↑ Hartmut Palmer: PARTY DONATIONS: Cash preferred . In: Der Spiegel . tape June 25 , 19, 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 6, 2019]).
12. ↑ Hartmut Palmer: CDU PARTY DONATIONS: Treacherous agreement . In: Der Spiegel . tape 51 , December 18, 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 6, 2019]).
13. ↑ Wolfgang Krach, Georg Mascolo: "I'm going to clean the table now" . In: Der Spiegel . February 14, 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 27, 2019]).
14. ↑ CDU: Did Kohl put pressure on Lüthje? In: Spiegel Online . August 2, 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 25, 2019]).
15. ^ Committee of inquiry CDU donation affair - written statements by Uwe Lüthje. In: Spiegel Online . January 24, 2001, accessed April 6, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Wolfgang Krach, Georg Mascolo: AFFAIRS: "So many delicious things" . In: Spiegel Online . tape April 14 , 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 14, 2019]).
17. ↑ Jürgen Schreiber : The Stasi is alive: reports from an infiltrated country . Knaur eBook, 2009, ISBN 978-3-426-55912-3 ( google.de [accessed April 14, 2019]).