2023-08-24 15:55:21
Christian Olearius, majority owner of the private bank MM Warburg and its long-time spokesman, is fighting for his reputation on several fronts in the cum-ex scandal, and in a few weeks also for his freedom. From mid-September, the 81-year-old banker will appear before the Bonn Regional Court on charges of tax evasion.
A few kilometers down the Rhine, specifically in front of the administrative court in Düsseldorf, his lawyer Peter Gauweiler requested comprehensive information from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on Thursday about WestLB’s cum-ex transactions and the investigations into former bodies of the former Landesbank or its legal successor Portigon . But in the afternoon, Chamber 29 of the Düsseldorf Administrative Court dismissed the Warburg banker’s complaint in its entirety (Az. 29 K 329/21).
“Charges” against WestLB managers?
Olearius’ lawyer Gauweiler made no secret of the background to the lawsuit under the North Rhine-Westphalia Freedom of Information Act (IFG) during the oral hearing. “In the case of WestLB, a billion euros in taxpayers’ money has been demonstrably evaded in a civil lawsuit, in the case of my mandate it’s a lot less.” After all, Peter Biesenbach (CDU), former Minister of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia, has repeatedly spoken in the media “about charges” against former managers of the Landesbank since 2017, Gauweiler emphasized before Chamber 29 of the Administrative Court.
Benjamin Limbach (Greens), Minister of Justice in North Rhine-Westphalia. : Image: dpa
The Munich lawyer already filed the IFG lawsuit in January 2021. Gauweiler demands from the state government in Düsseldorf access to all documents on WestLB’s cum-ex trades for the years 2005 to 2011 and “in particular the acquisition of shares in Daimler-Chrysler AG worth 9 billion euros”. This made Landesbank the largest single shareholder in the automaker for a period of two weeks in April 2007.
In addition, Gauweiler wants to get an opinion from the financial regulator Bafin, which was handed over to the owners of WestLB on the occasion of an investigation. He also demands the disclosure of all administrative files – only these can be demanded according to the IFG – of the Ministry of Justice, as far as the ongoing investigations against bank managers of the former WestLB or Portigon are concerned.
Bafin report is not available
The Ministry of Justice has refused to provide information for more than two years, most recently in a brief a few days ago. But they want to make the plaintiff a kind of “peace offer,” explains Kay Holzgrewe, head of the Human Resources and Legal Department at the Ministry of Justice, but without acknowledging a legal obligation. Gauweiler was given 55 pages, some of which were blacked out, in court – but not the desired report. “It is not before us,” explain the representatives of Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens).
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Holzgrewe moved to dismiss Olearius’ lawsuit. He contradicted Gauweiler on three points. It is “not the state government” that is being sued, if Olearius demands the BaFin report to be issued, his lawyer would have to submit an IFG application to the Ministry of Finance. Holzgrewe emphasized that the work of the public prosecutor’s office was by no means over with the indictment. In addition, the Ministry of Justice exercises specialist supervision of the work of the public prosecutor’s office in criminal matters – and for them, as the administrative judges had previously clarified, the scope of the IFG is not open.
According to the law firm Gauweiler & Sauter, the information collection published today by the representative of the Ministry of Justice is remarkable after a first inspection. With regard to the report, it is still believed that the Ministry of Justice, as part of the state government, must give him access to these files. “As a precaution, the plaintiffs have therefore extended the lawsuit against the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, represented by the Ministry of Finance, and are also appealing against the judgment.”
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