Because of the purchase of his villa in Berlin, Christian Lindner could have problems.Image: www.imago-images.de / Political Moments
politics
At the end of October there was already a stir about Christian Lindner and his noble villa. Now the purchase of a property worth 1.65 million euros is making headlines again, which could not only cause problems for the FDP leader and finance minister.
The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office is examining the suspicion that Lindner may have taken advantage in connection with a real estate loan. A spokesman for the authority said on Monday that this “preliminary check” also addresses the question of whether Lindner’s immunity as a member of the Bundestag should be lifted.
The reason for the examination: In the spring, Lindner had written a greeting for the Karlsruhe BBBank, from which he had also taken out a loan for a private house purchase.
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki is angry.Image: www.imago-images.de / F. Kern/Future Image
Lindner’s party friend Wolfgang Kubicki sees red and turns to the investigating authorities with an angry message. He would like to fire the investigating attorney general directly.
Now that the public prosecutor’s office in Berlin has announced that it is examining whether to investigate Christian Lindner, the question actually arises for legal scholars as well: Were they allowed?
For media lawyer Christian Conrad, such a message violated the personal rights of the Minister of Finance without initial suspicion. Conrad is no stranger to legal representation in the political arena. He also represented the AfD in a legal dispute with the Federal Constitutional Court.
Cornrad writes in a report in the online medium “Legal Tribune Online”it was to be expected that such a message would start an outrage machine. And he said: “As so often exaggerated and prejudiced.”
Bordering on the Wannsee: The district of Nikolassee can be seen in the right and upper part of the image.Perspective / imago images
Early reporting in connection with events at the public prosecutor’s office harbors the risk “that the public will equate the mere initiation of a preliminary investigation with proof of guilt and will therefore get stuck if the preliminary investigation is later dropped or the accusation of guilt is acquitted”.
Kubicki calls for the resignation of the Senator for Justice
Conrad was citing a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court from 2012. And he also says: “This danger has already materialized here, as evidenced by the reactions mentioned – and even without any preliminary proceedings.”
FDP Vice Kubicki would like to see heads roll here.
He writes: “The Berlin Senator for Justice should resign, but at least the Attorney General should be fired.” Reports that the public prosecutor’s office is examining the lifting of Lindner’s immunity are a “political lack of character and a significant violation of personal rights”. This must “entail personnel consequences”.
Based on a report by Der Spiegel in October, the Berlin public prosecutor said they had initiated a preliminary investigation. A spokesman emphasized that with this test no “statement about the existence of an initial suspicion” could be made. The preliminary examination lies with the Attorney General’s Office, because this has been responsible for processing corruption offenses since the beginning of the year.
BBBank was founded in Karlsruhe as the Baden official bank and is still based there today.Image: www.imago-images.de / michael gstettenbauer
According to the “Tagesspiegel”, Lindner said on request that there was no connection between his real estate financing and the greeting. According to the FDP boss, there is no possible accusation of taking advantage.
According to the Criminal Code, accepting an advantage is a corruption offense. According to this, it is punishable if a public official receives an advantage for his or her service. The video greeting could at least be seen as an official act, because such greetings are actually part of the usual activities of ministers. However, they must not have any financial advantage from it – i.e. receive no money or other monetary “gifts”.
(With material from AFP)
