Justice: Ex-Minister Scheuer accused of toll debacle

The former Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer threatens a process in connection with the failed car toll. The Berlin public prosecutor has charged the 50-year-old for wrongly false statements before the toll investigation committee of the Bundestag. The former State Secretary Gerhard Schulz also raised charges, as public prosecutor’s spokesman Sebastian Büchner said to the German Press Agency.

That’s what the indictment is about

The car toll – a prestige project by the CSU in the then black and red federal government – was stopped by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in June 2019. An investigation committee then dealt with Scheuer’s possible mistakes.

The committee started work in December 2019 and completed it in the summer of 2021. Above all, it was criticized that Scheuer concluded operator contracts for the car toll at the end of 2018, even before final legal certainty existed at the ECJ.

According to the indictment, Scheuer and Schulz are said to have done “conscious false statements” in their survey in the committee. When asked by MPs, whether the operator had been offered at a meeting on November 29, 2018 to sign the contracts only after the ECJ decision, both, contrary to their actual memory, should not be able to remember such a shifting offer, “said the public prosecutor.

Ex-Minister Scheuer says this to the allegations

The former CSU politician continues to reject the accusation. “It is correct: Mr. Scheuer is expressly opposed to this accusation,” said Scheuer’s lawyer Daniel Krause from the German Press Agency.

Previously, the 50-year-old had already commented on the allegations in the “picture” and described the indictment as “not understandable”. “The motifs and the time for the indictment are incomprehensible to me and seem more politically motivated,” said Scheuer to the “Bild”. The spokesman for the public prosecutor rejected the allegation of political motivation.

In addition, the former minister will not comment further, his lawyer said. This also applies to the co -accused Schulz (59). Former State Secretary also denies the accusation according to the unanimous information from the defense and the public prosecutor.

Scheuer put his Bundestag mandate down in April 2024. He has now founded an advisory company. As a result of the toll debacle, the German state had to pay 243 million euros in damages to the operators once planned. This had resulted in an agreement according to an arbitration procedure.

Further reactions to the indictment

CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann criticizes the indictment against the former Minister of Transport. “The public prosecutor’s decision is not understandable,” said the head of the CSU members of the Bundestag.

“The allegations that are about were already extensively examined in an investigation committee of the German Bundestag, and no false statement by the then Federal Minister of Transport and his State Secretary was determined. I assume that this procedure will come to the same result.”

So the investigation occurred

The public prosecutor announced at the beginning of May 2022 that it initiated an investigation against Scheuer and the former Secretary of State Schulz in April on suspicion of a false statement in the Bundestag investigation committee.

According to the authority, the basis was several criminal complaints from private individuals. The initial suspicion is that Scheuer and Schulz had “deliberately truthfully” stated in a testimony, it said at the time.

That’s what the U-Committee went about

The opposition had accused serious mistakes in budgetary and procurement law at the expense of taxpayers. He concluded contracts for the car toll even before legal certainty existed in the ECJ. Scheuer had always denied the allegations.

Managers of the operator companies that later planned had told Scheuer in the U -Committee – they had made him in the ministry at the end of November 2018 at a breakfast with Scheuer. The head of the ticket specialist CTS Eventim, Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, had said Scheuer rejected the offer. He had made it clear that the toll start must be in 2020, in the election year 2021 this was unacceptable. The head of the second consortial partner Kapsch, Georg Kapsch, who also participated in breakfast, confirmed the presentation.

Scheuer, on the other hand, had testified in front of the committee in early October 2020 that such an offer of the operators did not exist according to his memory. Schulz had also testified that there was no such offer in his memory.

According to the committee report, according to Scheuer, the meeting with the managers was about a “general political exchange”, in which the importance of the planned car toll for the federal government should be confirmed. Schulz had spoken of a “getting to know each other”. This said against statement.

Because of the special importance of the case and the position of Scheuer, the case was charged with the Berlin District Court, as the public prosecutor said. The court now has to decide whether it allows the indictment.

“The matter is in the interim procedure,” said a court spokeswoman. When the responsible chamber will decide about it is open. It is therefore unclear whether and when it comes to the process.

If there is a negotiation before the district court, a U-committee 2.0 is expected. It can be assumed that the witnesses at that time are also interviewed by the judges in the process.

This threatens if there is a conviction

Anyone who falcingly says in court or in front of someone else, who is responsible for the admission of witnesses or experts as a witness or expert, will be punished with a prison sentence of three months to five years.