RBB affair draws wide circles
Chief supervisor of Messe Berlin resigns from office
08/09/2022, 6:40 p.m
The RBB draws further consequences from the affair about its former director Schlesinger. Public broadcasting releases the head of the Intendance department. There are also personnel consequences at Messe Berlin.
The chairman of the supervisory board of Messe Berlin, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, who came under criticism in the RBB affair, is resigning. A spokesman for the Senate Department for Economics said: “Today, Mr. Wolf-Dieter Wolf informed the Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, Stephan Schwarz, that he was resigning from the Supervisory Board at Messe Berlin and thus also from his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board with immediate effect to avoid possible damage to Messe Berlin GmbH and also not to burden the ongoing investigations.”
In addition to his position on the trade fair supervisory board, Wolf is also the chairman of the board of directors of the public service broadcaster Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). However, his office there has been suspended for some time until the allegations have been clarified.
Wolf-Dieter Wolf was chairman of the RBB board of directors and chief supervisor of Messe Berlin.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa)
Almost at the same time, the RBB had the head of the main directorate department, Verena Formen-Mohr, released with immediate effect, as a spokesman for the broadcaster confirmed. He did not give any further details as to the reasons. RBB director Patricia Schlesinger resigned on Sunday, and last Thursday the 61-year-old had already withdrawn from the ARD presidency. There are numerous allegations of nepotism in the room.
Prosecutor determined
The “Business Insider” had started the whole case. The question arises as to whether Wolf and Schlesinger were guided by personal interests when awarding consultancy contracts for a transmitter construction project. In addition, a large salary increase for Schlesinger to a good 300,000 euros and expensive meals at RBB costs in her private apartment and a luxurious company car, for which there is said to have been a very high discount, are being investigated. Schlesinger’s husband continued to receive orders from Messe Berlin. It was also announced that the executive floor should have been equipped to a high standard for 650,000 euros.
Investigations are currently being carried out in both houses, but the results are not yet available. The public prosecutor is also investigating ex officio against Schlesinger, her husband and Wolf on suspicion of infidelity and acceptance of benefits. Schlesinger and Wolf reject the allegations. As head of the main department, Formen-Mohr was responsible, among other things, for the new construction of the cross-media news center and the digital media house of the RBB – this is the construction project that has been put on hold.