According to a media report, the Federal Court of Auditors accuses the Federal Ministry of Transport of wasting taxpayers’ money in cushioning the consequences of the pandemic for rail freight transport.
The auditors complained that in the years 2020 and 2021 a total of 340 million euros more than necessary had been paid out to freight transport companies, the newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft report with reference to a report from the Court of Auditors that they have received.
The Court of Auditors therefore criticized a serious violation of budgetary law and massive errors in setting up the program by the Transport Ministry led by Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP). “The BMDV neither examined the profitability of the increased funding nor checked its success,” says the report.
According to the preliminary report, the Ministry of Transport rejected all allegations. Transport Minister Volker Wissing was recently criticized in connection with climate protection goals.
The Climate Protection Act requires timely countermeasures if individual areas such as transport fail to meet their climate targets. According to a government spokesman, the Chancellery had released Transport Minister Wissing from the obligation. (Reuters)
