The allegations against the public service broadcaster Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) are having initial personal consequences. The chairman of the RBB board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, is leaving his position on the broadcaster’s control committee until the investigation is complete, as the broadcasting council announced after a non-public special meeting in Berlin. This is done “to avoid any appearance of influencing the full clarification of the allegations”.
The RBB has not come to rest since Business Insider recently published detailed allegations against the station and its director Patricia Schlesinger. The core issue is whether certain limits could have been exceeded in the professional relationship between Schlesinger and the RBB board of directors and whether collisions of interests were dealt with too laxly.
The allegations against the RBB relate, for example, to an allegedly incorrect billing of official dinners at the director’s office and the employment of consultants for an RBB real estate project, who are said to come from the environment of the head of the board of directors, Wolf. The RBB and Wolf have rejected the allegations.
External Hamburg law firm is to investigate the case
The broadcaster has launched independent investigations into the case itself, and the external law firm Lutz Abel is involved. “The Broadcasting Council will pay particular attention to ensuring that this law firm can carry out its investigations independently and comprehensively. There must also be no pressure on employees who want to contribute to the investigation,” said Friederike von Kirchbach, Chairwoman of the RBB Broadcasting Council. The Broadcasting Council insists on a “complete clarification” of the allegations.
The RBB also involved the compliance officer and the station’s audit department. Both have now commissioned the Hamburg law firm Abel for “an independent and all-encompassing clarification of the open questions”. Their areas of expertise include investigating compliance issues. Compliance means correct and ethical behavior in business relationships and processes.
The Broadcasting Council is one of the two controlling bodies of public broadcasting in Berlin-Brandenburg. He monitors compliance with the mandate set out in the RBB state contract and advises the director on general matters relating to offers.