The Frankfurt district court sentenced the voted-out Frankfurt mayor Peter Feldmann shortly before Christmas. He has to pay a fine of 21,000 euros and a value replacement – and is now considered a criminal record.
The voted-out Frankfurt Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann has been convicted in two cases in the corruption trial before the Frankfurt Regional Court for accepting advantages. As the judges announced on Friday, the SPD politician has to pay a fine of 120 daily rates of 175 euros each and a value replacement of 5,989 euros.
All in all, Feldmann will incur costs of EUR 26,989 as well as the costs of the proceedings. Due to the judgment with more than 90 daily rates, the former Frankfurt City Hall boss is considered a criminal record.
Prosecutors demanded a higher fine
The fine of 21,000 euros imposed is below the demand of the public prosecutor’s office: they had previously demanded a fine of 31,500 euros, divided into 180 daily rates of 175 euros each, and a value replacement of 5,989 euros. In her pleading, she too saw it as proven that Feldmann had been guilty of accepting an advantage in two cases.
Feldmann’s defense attorney, on the other hand, had pleaded for acquittal and emphasized that Feldmann had not unduly influenced municipal politics. The 64-year-old had repeatedly emphasized in court that he was not corrupt and “didn’t reach into the till”.
Feldmann leaves revision open
Feldmann himself announced after the verdict on Friday that he would consider an appeal. In an interview with hr, he said he would “consider this in peace”. With a revision, the Feldmann case would then end up before the Higher Regional Court.
Feldmann is said to have treated AWO benevolently
Feldmann was accused in the process of having behaved benevolently towards the AWO as a politician. In return, the AWO granted him benefits, including an overpaid job for his then girlfriend and later wife Zübeyde at the head of a new German-Turkish AWO daycare center in Frankfurt.
Feldmann’s defense denied this: Feldmann was entitled to assume that his future wife’s Turkish origins and relevant studies meant that her appointment as daycare manager was lawful. The court saw this as proven. The value replacement of 5,989 euros is the sum at which Feldmann benefited from his wife’s excessive salary, said the presiding judge Werner Gröschel in the verdict.
Process involved in AWO affair
The Feldmann procedure is related to the multi-million dollar AWO affair at the Frankfurt and Wiesbaden associations. The former Wiesbaden AWO managing director Hannelore Richter had repeatedly asked Feldmann for support with SMS messages that were read out in the process. Richter, as AWO special representative in Frankfurt, had given Feldmann’s girlfriend at the time the post of daycare manager despite a lack of professional experience and qualifications.
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