Winfried Maier

Winfried Maier (* 1959 ) is a German lawyer who, as a public prosecutor at the Augsburg Public Prosecutor's Office, has been instrumental in uncovering cases of political corruption since 1997 .

Investigative work

Attorney Winfried Maier determined together with Attorney Joerg Hillinger within the prosecutor's office in Augsburg since 1997 in complex political contributions - and fraud process that attracted far beyond Bavaria stir: the control criminal case against the lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber , the former secretary of state Ludwig Holger pile (CSU) the Strauss son Max Josef , the former State Secretary Erich Riedl (CSU), the former CDU treasurer Walther Leisler Kiep and high-ranking ThyssenKrupp managers. The main focus was on the interdependencies between the Bavarian state government , the CSU and the judiciary . Maier and Hillinger consistently continued the investigation, although they were accused of "disloyalty" and their investigative work was hindered. The CDU donation affair surrounding the arms lobbyist Schreiber triggered a crisis in the CDU .

Massive obstruction of the investigative work in the case of Max-Josef Strauss led to a nationwide discussion about the independence of public prosecutors. Maier should explain in writing that there was no sufficient suspicion and leave the further investigations to the Munich public prosecutor. In 1999, the investigating senior public prosecutor Jörg Hillinger had a fatal accident in a car . In 2001, Maier alone had to testify in an eight-hour interrogation before the investigative committee of the Bavarian state parliament to clarify any inadmissible state influence on the part of Bavarian officials on criminal investigations .

Maier has been a judge since 2000 and has been a presiding judge since 2013 at a senate responsible for family law at the Munich Higher Regional Court , based in Augsburg .

Honors

• 2002: “Upright gait” award for his moral courage from the Humanist Union in Munich
• 2003: Georg Elser Prize , Heidenheim , for uncovering the CDU donation affair

literature

• Contribution in: Hans Herbert von Arnim (Ed.) Korruption. Networks in politics, offices and business . Droemer Knaur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-426-77683-9 .
• Responsible for: Erman: BGB . In 2 volumes. 15th edition. Schmidt, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-504-47100-2 .
• Editor of: Johannsen / Henrich, Familienrecht, 6th edition, Beck, Munich, 2015, ISBN 978-3-406-66569-1

Web links

• Lecture by Winfried Maier on the subject of "Corruption in Politics and Administration", University of Speyer, 2002 , accessed on October 3, 2008 (PDF file; 20 kB)
• Wirtschaftswoche of November 6, 2002: The Schreiber Affair , accessed on October 3, 2008
• Focus magazine: Guardian Angels on Earth , accessed on October 3, 2008

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Bird's Whisper . In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 2002 ( online ).
2. ↑ Bankruptcy of the judiciary . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 2000 ( online ).
3. ↑ Winfried Maier - Bavarian public prosecutor who fled to the judiciary in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, accessed on October 3, 2008
4. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung October 24, 2001: Maier before the committee of inquiry ( Memento from December 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 3, 2008.
5. ↑ Laudation for the award winner ( Memento of the original from December 9th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 3, 2008 
6. ^ Heidenheimer Zeitung report , accessed on October 3, 2008