A lot of money for hotels and alcohol
Fraunhofer President goes after allegations of expenses
05/26/2023, 09:37 am
The Fraunhofer Society gets a new boss. However, Reimund Neugebauer’s departure does not appear to have been entirely voluntary: the previous president of the leading German institute is said not to have been too particular about spending on hotels and restaurants on business trips.
The President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, who has come under criticism, resigns from office after eleven years. Holger Hanselka, head of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), is to succeed Reimund Neugebauer, who was elected in 2012. This is announced by the Fraunhofer Society in Munich. Accordingly, the Senate unanimously elected the current head of KIT and thanked Neugebauer for “his commitment at the top of society”.
The Federal Court of Auditors had previously accused the Fraunhofer leadership of inappropriately high expense accounts and other misconduct. “Overall, there was an inappropriate use of tax funds due to excessive travel, company car and representation costs,” says one report from February. Among other things, the requirements of the Federal Travel Expenses Act were regularly disregarded for board trips: “In particular, the upper limits for overnight accommodation allowances in Germany were exceeded by up to 450 percent and in non-European countries by up to 420 percent.”
Specifically, Neugebauer is said to have stayed in Austria for 663 euros in a luxury hotel, although according to the regulations only hotel rooms for 115 euros are allowed, as the “Bild” newspaper reports. On business trips, he also accumulated expenses of 312,676 euros for restaurant visits. A large proportion is said to have been incurred for alcoholic beverages. The Fraunhofer announcement only says that Neugebauer is “mutually” resigning from his business.
Fraunhofer budget increases dramatically
The focus of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with its more than 30,000 employees is research focused on practical application. During Neugebauer’s term of office, the budget increased from 1.9 billion euros to around 3 billion euros a year, and the number of institutes grew from 64 to 76. Hanselka is to take up his new post as soon as possible, with CFO Sandra Krey becoming interim boss.
The 61-year-old Hanselka has headed the KIT since 2013. The research facility was created in 2009 from the merger of the University and Research Center Karlsruhe. The new President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft sees “the international positioning and the development of a modern mission statement for Fraunhofer” as his main tasks. “We live in a time of massive global changes and challenges. Research with a clear profile needs to become more global,” the KIT quotes its President as saying.
Before moving to KIT, Hanselka had already headed the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability in Darmstadt for twelve years. Between 2006 and 2012 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Fraunhofer Society. He is regarded as an expert in knowledge and technology transfer, in cooperation between science and business and in spin-offs.