Two credits and a greeting
Lindner’s lawyer: Conditions always customary in the market
01/09/2023 11:46 am
After reports of impending criminal proceedings against Finance Minister Lindner, his party friend Kubicki was outraged at the Berlin judiciary. Lindner’s lawyer explains that the greeting for the bank, which gave the minister two loans, is part of his regular duties.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has again rejected allegations in connection with a loan for his private house purchase. The “Tagesspiegel” had reported that the minister had given a video speech for the bank that financed his house purchase. The public prosecutor’s office is now examining the lifting of Lindner’s MP immunity, the newspaper said. Lindner’s lawyer Christian Schertz said: “Mr. Lindner started his private real estate financing long before he took over his ministerial post. All conditions were always customary in the market. Granting a brief greeting on anniversaries such as the centenary of a bank is part of the regular duties of a minister.”
The “Tagesspiegel” reported that Lindner held the greeting for a private customer bank in Karlsruhe in May 2022 and “apparently concealed” that he had taken out a loan from the institute. Because after the greeting he had another loan from the same bank, he is now threatened with criminal proceedings for accepting an advantage. The corruption department of the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office is currently examining the lifting of Lindner’s immunity as a member of parliament in order to be able to formally investigate.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said, according to the newspaper, that this is “usual in such cases and without a statement being made about the existence of an initial suspicion”. Last fall, the “Spiegel” reported allegations in connection with Lindner’s real estate financing. Schertz explained that there was no connection between the two processes – the greeting and private real estate financing. Lindner sees “today’s reporting with composure”.
Kubicki complains about “significant violation of personal rights”
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki sharply criticized the Berlin judiciary because of the reports. “Reports that the Berlin Attorney General’s Office is examining the lifting of Christian Lindner’s immunity in order to investigate the suspicion of a possible advantage name are an unparalleled lack of political character and a significant violation of personal rights, which must result in personal consequences,” Kubicki wrote in a statement. He demanded: “The Berlin Senator for Justice should resign, but at least the Attorney General should be fired.”
Kubicki, who is also Vice President of the Bundestag, pointed out that it is not the public prosecutor’s office that decides on the lifting of immunity, but only the German Bundestag. A separate waiver of immunity is not required to start investigations, but only a notification to the President of the German Bundestag. A waiver of immunity is only necessary if searches, arrests or indictments are in the room. Kubicki stated: “This remarkable process shows once again that the Senate of Berlin is in the process of completely ruining the federal capital, both in fact and morally.”