Trials: Defendant remains silent about business with Elsflether Werft

In the trial surrounding business with the Elsfleth shipyard, the defendant does not want to comment on the allegations. As of today, the 51-year-old is standing before the lay judges of the Brake District Court on charges of bribery in business transactions.

As a project manager for a Hamburg subcontractor, he is said to have submitted excessive offers to the shipyard – including for the renovation of the “Gorch Fock”. He is then said to have granted the shipyard credits of more than 1.2 million euros.

The defendant is said to have made excessive offers to the shipyard on the Unterweser for 21 projects from 2015 to 2018. According to the public prosecutor’s office, one project concerned the renovation of the “Gorch Fock”. When billing, he is said to have granted credits – usually 15 percent, in the case of the “Gorch Fock” 17 percent.

In this way, the project manager wanted to ensure that his company would be preferred for future orders. According to the public prosecutor’s office, those responsible at the Elsfleth shipyard benefited with a total of more than 1.2 million euros, and the order volume amounted to a good 6.9 million euros.

The Elsfleth shipyard was supposed to repair several ships and boats for the German Navy. The shipyard was also the main contractor for the renovation of the “Gorch Fock”. Their costs exploded from a planned 10 million euros to 135 million euros. In February 2019, the shipyard filed for bankruptcy. The Lürssen shipyard in Bremen took over the completion of the sailing ship and returned it to the navy in autumn 2021.