A good month before the state elections in Thuringia, the state government has been at least partially cleared of suspicions of breach of trust. Left-wing Prime Minister Ramelow reacts with relief.
The Erfurt public prosecutor’s office has closed a breach of trust case against the Thuringian state government. In the course of the investigation, it was unable to identify “any serious breaches of duty” by the cabinet, according to the 19-page order, which was sent to the star is present.
Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) reacted with relief. “I am glad that this confirms that there were no criminal violations,” he told the star. “This takes a heavy weight off my shoulders.”
At the beginning of 2023, the State Audit Office had criticized the state government’s hiring of state secretaries and senior civil servants unusually harshly. It was “flawed”, “illegal” and “incomprehensible”, it said in two audit reports. Authority President Kirsten Butzke spoke of “systematic and serious” violations. The principle of selecting the best candidates had not been observed.
Criminal charges filed by AfD and FDP
The public prosecutor’s office then launched investigations against unknown persons. In addition, the AfD and FDP filed criminal charges, some of which were also directed against Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) personally.
One and a half years later, the investigative authority has now closed the proceedings against the state secretaries in accordance with Section 170, Paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This means that it does not see “sufficient grounds” for charges.
The public prosecutor’s office also clearly considers some personnel decisions to be questionable. However, as the order states: “Not every non-criminal breach of duty identified” automatically leads to the assumption of a breach of duty that constitutes breach of trust and is therefore punishable.”
Bodo Ramelow admits his government’s mistakes
Ramelow admitted mistakes made by the state government. “The Court of Auditors revealed weaknesses in its reports, for example in the documentation of personnel decisions,” he said. “But we have repaired that.” In principle, he and the state government continue to stand by their personnel decisions.
In the case of the particularly controversial hiring of a state secretary, the investigating public prosecutor wrote that it was “important” whether the state government’s decision would stand up to scrutiny by an administrative court. Nevertheless, the hiring at the time was “not so obviously absurd” that it had to be considered “grossly unlawful.”
Regardless of the current decision of the public prosecutor’s office, a second case dealing with the hiring of senior officials is continuing unchanged. A spokesman for the Erfurt investigative authority confirmed this when asked by the star.
The political debate is likely to continue anyway. In 2023, the Thuringian state parliament set up a committee of inquiry into the so-called post affair at the request of the opposition CDU. A few weeks ago, there was a heated argument in parliament about the committee’s interim report. The final report is to be presented before the state election on September 1.
Source: Stern
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