Corruption in Germany: Public prosecutor's office rejects investigations against RBB director Schlesinger

The affair about possible irregularities at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) is currently not a case for the judiciary. A spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor said they had refrained from investigating. The Brandenburg AfD parliamentary group had filed a criminal complaint.

According to the public prosecutor's office, there are no starting points for a criminal offense. The AfD parliamentary group's complaint was essentially limited to indications that there was press coverage of consultancy contracts, the assumption of expense accounts, private dinners and favors on a mutual basis with the RBB. However, it is not the task of the public prosecutor's office to actively evaluate the media "whether there are criminal facts being described on a sufficient factual basis". This would be "legally inadmissible research after an initial suspicion".

The criminal complaint was directed against RBB director Patricia Schlesinger, her husband and the head of the board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf. The Business Insider portal had reported that there was a "system of mutual favors" between Schlesinger and Wolf. The businessman Wolf, who is also the chairman of the supervisory board at Messe Berlin, passed orders to Schlesinger's husband. The RBB, Schlesinger and Wolf reject the allegations. The compliance officer and the broadcaster's audit department are already dealing with the allegations. Wolf is currently on hiatus.

Source: Deutschlandfunk