2023-04-27 19:55:16
How did the expensive lease for the Nuremberg Future Museum, a branch of the Deutsches Museum, come about? The investigative committee set up for this purpose in the state parliament is trying to clarify this. Sebastian Brehm, member of the Bundestag and treasurer of the CSU, was invited as a witness on Thursday. He clearly ruled out any connection between party donations and the Nuremberg lease and emphasized: “The donations we receive are always free of charge, otherwise I, as treasurer, would not accept them.”
The opposition suspected nepotism
The opposition assumes exactly that – a service in return. She accuses the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, as Finance Minister at the time, of having helped the Nuremberg entrepreneur Gerd Schmelzer to get an advantageous rental agreement – according to the opposition a waste of money of up to 200 million euros. In return for the lease, von Schmelzer is said to have made party donations to the CSU.
Brehm: Large donations intended for the local election campaign
In fact, the entrepreneur Schmelzer donated around 45,000 euros to the CSU in 2018 and 2019, which were published in accordance with the party law. Treasurer Brehm explained to the U-Committee that these donations were expressly intended to support the CSU in the local election campaign. There were also four smaller donations, which landlord Gerd Schmelzer announced himself.
No information on smaller donations
Brehm did not want to provide information on these smaller donations of less than 10,000 euros on Thursday. “I’m terribly sorry, I can’t do that,” he said. According to the party law, he could not disclose smaller donations, otherwise he would be liable to prosecution. Only the donor himself would be entitled to do so. Donations that are divided into pieces and total more than 10,000 euros would of course be published, he emphasized. He also explained to the committee that members of the state government were unaware of the donations.
Request for a search of the CSU headquarters rejected by the state parliament
In order to get information about these smaller donations, the Greens, SPD and FDP wanted to have the CSU party headquarters searched. They wanted to find out whether the landlord of the Nuremberg Future Museum, Gerd Schmelzer, had donated more money to the CSU than previously known. But just last night, the Bavarian state parliament rejected the opposition’s request for a search with the votes of the CSU and Free Voters, as before in the investigative committee.
Opposition lawsuit unlikely
Now the opposition can sue the Bavarian Constitutional Court to have the CSU party headquarters searched. However, as BR24 committee members announced, Brehm confirmed the four smaller donations from Schmelzer in a secret meeting. Therefore, the deputies expressed reluctance as to whether a lawsuit would be filed.
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