Wednesday March 31, 2021
Committed multiple crimes?
The judiciary is investigating ex-MP Löbel
The mask affair brought an abrupt end to Nikolas Löbel’s political career. The public prosecutor’s office finds no evidence of bribery, but the judiciary is investigating elsewhere. Löbel’s project management company is involved again.
Former CDU member of the Bundestag, Nikolas Löbel, faces new allegations a few weeks after the mask affair: The Mannheim public prosecutor has initiated an investigation against the former CDU politician and ex-district association head, among other things for infidelity. The commissions for businesses with corona protective masks, which many consider reprehensible, which led to his withdrawal from politics, play no role in this.
The authority announced that “in connection with the rental of premises in the office of the CDU district association Mannheim, the remuneration of staff and a GmbH attributable to the accused, there was an initial suspicion for the commission of several crimes”. The 34-year-old could not initially be reached to comment.
The CDU district executive said it had sent a letter from a party member to the public prosecutor’s office last week. In the letter to the district executive, anomalies and possible irregularities around the CDU office in Mannheim are described. The main focus here is on the mixing of rooms for Löbel’s constituency work and the district office and the equipment and materials it contains.
No separation of offices and posts?
The Löbels constituency office occupied 50 percent of the total area without paying the appropriate rent, according to the letter. The spatial separation of constituency offices and other areas required by the Bundestag had not taken place. In addition, the district manager had inadmissibly also headed the Löbels constituency office. Löbels Projektmanagement GmbH used office supplies from the CDU without accounting.
In another letter, another CDU member – the Mannheim tax advisor Heinrich Braun – accuses Löbel of creating a culture that no longer has anything to do with clean democratic politics. It is characterized by the amalgamation of private economic interests and party work, opaque party finances, post haggling, secret minutes after board meetings and non-transparent bookkeeping.
As early as 2015, differences between Löbel and Braun in his former role as CDU local association treasurer made headlines. Braun suspected at the time that the poor condition of the district treasury should be concealed with the assets of the 17 independent local associations. The then district association chief Löbel dismissed him.
No initial suspicion in mask mediation
The Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office, on the other hand, sees no initial suspicion of bribery of mandate holders in the procurement of corona masks – as Löbel is chalked up. There is no direct connection between Löbel’s private mediation activity and his former activity as a member of the Bundestag.
The mask affair involved commissions of around 250,000 euros for Löbel’s company. She is said to have collected the money because she brokered purchase contracts for corona protective masks between a Baden-Württemberg supplier and two private companies in Heidelberg and Mannheim. The CDU district executive promised the public prosecutor’s office active support in the investigation.
The member’s letter could not be clearly assessed from a legal point of view and was therefore forwarded to the Mannheim public prosecutor for information last week. On behalf of the CDU, a business and tax auditing company from Reutlingen is to examine the financial and payroll accounting as well as the work, loan and rental contracts of the district office.
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