The majority of the RBB Broadcasting Council voted to dismiss the resigned director. Allegations of felt and nepotism have plunged the station into a deep crisis.
RBB Broadcasting Council announces Patricia Schlesinger’s termination without notice.
After allegations of nepotism and taking advantage, the RBB Broadcasting Council fired the previous director Patricia Schlesinger without notice.
The reason given for the immediate dismissal was the billing of entertainment costs for a partially private dinner in February, which was arranged via the RBB. A two-thirds majority of the 28 broadcasting councils was necessary for the decision.
There are numerous allegations against the 61-year-old Schlesinger. These include alleged nepotism, doctored accounts, dubious consultancy contracts, the costly expansion of the director’s floor and a 16 percent salary increase during savings periods for the station. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office has meanwhile initiated preliminary proceedings against Schlesinger, her husband Gerhard Spörl and former head of the administrative board Wolf-Dieter Wolf. Among other things, it is about lucrative consulting contracts from Spörl from Messe Berlin, apparently mediated by the then RBB administrative board chief Wolf, who is also the supervisory board chief of the state-owned Messe Berlin. All those involved have denied the allegations made.
Failure of all control instances
The Schlesinger case reveals the complete failure of control mechanisms within the RBB. Actually, the board of directors should control the expenses of the management and the financial plan of the station, whose boss was Wolf. The RBB state contract clearly stipulates that expenses that exceed a value of 200,000 euros must be approved by the board of directors. That did not happen in the case of Schlesinger, reports the RBB. This involves, for example, the renovation of the director’s office floor for a total of 650,000 euros.
Schlesinger is also accused of not using her company car in accordance with the guidelines and of having set up a dubious bonus system. She also insisted that she had held an official dinner with “multipliers” in her private apartment. At least the invited Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik knew nothing about it and had a spokesman say: “Dr. Slowik noted with great astonishment and irritation the information that the RBB was billed for the cost of dinner at the Schlesinger and Spörl family. It was in no way apparent to her that this meeting had a professional background. »
These and other allegations as well as the associated waste of fee money are also of interest to the members of the Brandenburg state parliament. On Tuesday, the managing broadcaster boss Hagen Brandstätter has to answer the questions of the parliamentarians. The clarification of the misconduct within the RBB has only just begun.