Because of unsworn false testimony
Berlin public prosecutor determined against Scheuer
05/03/2022, 12:15 p.m
According to media reports, the debacle surrounding the car toll has consequences under criminal law for ex-transport minister Andreas Scheuer. After several criminal complaints from private individuals, the Berlin public prosecutor is now investigating against him.
According to “Spiegel” information, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office has initiated preliminary proceedings against the former Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer and his former State Secretary Gerhard Schulz. Against the CSU politician and his officials there is therefore the initial suspicion of unsworn false statements, authorities spokesman Martin Steltner confirmed to the newspaper on request. The process has been running since April 13th. Department 3 of the State Criminal Police Office, which is responsible for combating white-collar crime, was commissioned to carry out the investigation.
Accordingly, the focus of the allegations would be contradictory statements by the then ministry leadership and the bosses of the toll operator companies before the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry of the Bundestag, which was supposed to clarify the affair. The accused are said to have “deliberately testified untruthfully in their testimony before the investigative committee,” Steltner told the “Spiegel”. The background to this is several criminal charges that private individuals have filed against Scheuer and Schulz.
The focus of the investigation is said to be a meeting between Scheuer and the heads of the operating companies, which Scheuer apparently kept secret for a long time. With Klaus-Peter Schulenberg from Eventim and Georg Kapsch from Kapsch Trafficom, the ministry was then in the hot phase of negotiations. Scheuer told the German Press Agency: “I testified truthfully in front of the investigative committee. There is nothing to add. I firmly assume that a review will not come to any other conclusion.”
The car toll – a prestige project of the CSU in the then black-red federal government – was stopped in June 2019 by the European Court of Justice as illegal. From the end of 2019 to the summer of 2021, an investigative committee dealt with possible mistakes made by Scheuer. The main point there was that Scheuer had already concluded contracts for collecting the toll at the end of 2018, even before there was final legal certainty about the project. The opposition accused Scheuer of violating budgetary and public procurement law and repeatedly called for his resignation.