RBB also releases the head of the artistic directorship
“What’s wrong with the control system at ÖRR?”
Patricia Schlesinger is also stepping down as director of the RBB. Previously, she renounced the chief post at ARD. “There is a great lack of understanding among the RBB employees as to why their salaries are always so tight,” says Anette Dowideit, department head of the WELT investigative team.
The anger about the resigned RBB director Patricia Schlesinger is spreading. Now the director has also lost her job. In addition, the head of the RBB board of directors is resigning from his position on the supervisory board at Messe Berlin.
Dhe affair at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) about the resigned director Patricia Schlesinger has further personal consequences. The director, Verena Formen-Mohr, has been released with immediate effect. This was confirmed by a spokesman for the public broadcaster on Tuesday of the German Press Agency. The “Spiegel” had previously reported.
In addition, it became known that Wolf-Dieter Wolf, the head of the RBB board of directors, who has also come under criticism – his office is currently suspended – has resigned from the supervisory board at Messe Berlin. Both are considered close companions of Schlesinger. The RBB director resigned on Sunday, and last Thursday the 61-year-old had already withdrawn from the ARD chairmanship.
The public prosecutor’s office is investigating Schlesinger, her husband and Wolf on suspicion of infidelity and accepting advantages. The online medium “Business Insider” got the case rolling at the end of June. It’s about alleged nepotism and conspicuous privileges for the director.
The core question is whether the station manager and the station manager Wolf could have treated each other too laxly in the event of a possible collision of professional and private interests. Both rejected allegations. Schlesinger’s husband received orders from the state-owned Messe Berlin. An external investigation is currently underway at a law firm. Results are not yet available.
Meanwhile, it became known that there was another staff meeting in the RBB crisis. According to dpa information, Schlesinger was not present. Accordingly, head of administration Hagen Brandstätter, who has taken over since Schlesinger’s resignation, also addressed the planned end of his time at RBB next year. When asked by dpa, the broadcaster announced that his contract expired at the end of April 2023 and that Brandtäter would not extend it. This has nothing to do with the current crisis, so the step was already certain.
Compliance investigation is likely to cost up to one million euros
In addition, according to “Tagesspiegel” and dpa information, the meeting was also about costs. A total of 1.4 million euros is said to have been spent on the entire floor with directorship and ARD chairmanship. In addition, 750,000 euros are said to have been paid for the floor by RBB production and operations director Christoph Augenstein.
According to the “Tagesspiegel”, which refers to the meeting, the compliance investigation of the external law firm is likely to cost up to one million euros.
The previously unsolved allegations against Schlesinger range from questionable consulting contracts to an RBB construction project that has now been put on hold, a large salary increase for Schlesinger to a good 300,000 euros and an additional bonus system. It’s also about food with “multipliers” at RBB’s expense in your private apartment and a luxurious company car with massage seats, for which there is said to have been a very high discount.
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