It’s about lamps: Suspicion of corruption in the restructuring of the NRW State Chancellery

Corruption is said to have caused millions in damage during the renovation of the North Rhine-Westphalia government headquarters, the State Chancellery. Investigators investigated the suspicion with a raid, a spokesman for the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) confirmed in response to a dpa request. The police and public prosecutor’s office executed more than 40 search warrants – including at the state-owned construction company BLB.

According to the lead public prosecutor’s office in Wuppertal, around 200 investigators were on duty that morning. According to the LKA, searches took place in Düsseldorf, Neuss, Mönchengladbach, Erkrath and Münster, among others. According to the investigators, it is about suspicion of bribery and corruption, illegal agreements in tenders, breach of trust and fraud.

Accusations against employees of BLB and the architectural firm

As the dpa learned, the case revolves around the renovation of the lighting in the State Chancellery, which has been modernized for eight years. There is a suspicion that the accused deliberately influenced the awarding of contracts in order to then issue inflated supplementary invoices together with the bidding companies who were awarded the contract.

Employees of the BLB and employees of an architectural office are said to have been involved. The state-owned construction and real estate company is managing the renovation of the State Chancellery. There were initially no arrest warrants or arrests, but the seven suspects – five men and two women (36 to 69 years old) – remain at large.

The report of a witness and audits by the internal audit department of BLB NRW got the ball rolling. The Wuppertal public prosecutor’s office saw the initial suspicion substantiated, obtained over 40 judicial search warrants and had a total of 57 properties searched.

Employees of the State Chancellery, which uses the building as a tenant, were not among the suspects, said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office. The State Chancellery itself was not searched either.

“The allegations in the room must be fully clarified. Of course, the State Chancellery as well as the entire state government will do everything possible to actively contribute to the clarification,” said a spokeswoman for the State Chancellery.

Opposition demands clarification from Wüst

Elisabeth Müller-Witt, deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group, said: “After the cost explosion, now there are allegations of corruption. The luxury renovation of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Chancellery by Prime Minister Hendrick Wüst is already costing citizens more than 50 million euros – a bottomless pit.”

The SPD called on Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst and State Chancellor Nathanael Liminski (both CDU) to “immediately put everything on the table and quickly provide clarity.”

“The fact that millions of dollars could have been embezzled during the restructuring of the State Chancellery casts a critical light on management and political supervision,” emphasized FDP parliamentary group leader Henning Höne. The Liberals called for “disclosure of all relevant information and an explanation as to why existing control mechanisms have failed.”

Renovation has been criticized for a long time

The renovation of the NRW State Chancellery had previously come under criticism due to cost increases and delays. In the middle of last year, a cost increase of 13.5 million euros to around 55 million euros was announced.

When he took office in 2017, the then Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) decided to return the State Chancellery from the modern high-rise office building “Stadttor” to the historic but outdated state house on the banks of the Rhine.

The corruption scandal is not the first at the state-owned construction company BLB. A former head of the BLB was even sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for bribery. The manager had revealed the country’s construction plans and collected bribes for it. Intermediate buyers then acquired the required land and drove up the prices.

“One of the highest-paid officials in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia played a leading role in a criminal conspiracy at the expense of taxpayers,” the criminal judge said at the time.