Golden handshake for former editor-in-chief

The Berlin Court of Auditors has been examining all rbb consultancy contracts concluded since 2017. The authority confirmed this at the request of NDR and rbb. The auditors are currently getting an overview of how many contracts are involved. The authorities have not yet said how long the test will take. The Berlin and Brandenburg courts of auditors had previously announced that “employment contracts for executives” would also be the subject of this “coordinated audit”.

This should also bring a previously unknown contract into the focus of the auditors. As can be seen from research by NDR and rbb and from confidential documents, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) concluded a well-paid consultancy contract with its outgoing editor-in-chief Christoph Singelnstein – in addition to his lifelong entitlement to an annual pension of more than 100,000 euros and his statutory Pension. In total, Singelnstein is currently receiving a monthly amount from rbb that would roughly correspond to the amount of his last salary as editor-in-chief – that would be around 15,000 euros per month.

As a survey of the ARD broadcasters revealed, neither Radio Bremen nor Saarländische Rundfunk, SWR or HR have concluded comparable contracts.

The Bayrischer Rundfunk explained that former executives were “only very occasionally” and, above all, “for the completion of ongoing projects”. There are currently two examples of this: “one in an IT project nearing completion, one in connection with legal advice”. In principle, the awarding of consultancy contracts at BR is subject to strict internal rules and checks.

The NDR reported that retired employees were only employed on a fee basis “in exceptional cases”. In such cases, however, a service instruction applies, according to which these people may receive a maximum of 50 percent of the usual remuneration for freelancers in the NDR. Consultancy contracts are not concluded for this. The WDR also stated that it commissioned consulting services if the relevant knowledge was not available in-house. “Central Purchasing” is then responsible for ensuring cost-effectiveness. There is currently a contract with a “retired employee for consulting services in the IT sector. This expires at the end of the year.”

In the rbb, on the other hand, it was obviously different. The conclusion of the consulting contract with the retired editor-in-chief probably did not go through purchasing, but through the director Patricia Schlesinger, who has since been dismissed, and the head of the human resources department at the time. And the height also raises question marks.

At the beginning of 2018, Singelnstein’s contract was in the course of the conversion of management salaries in rbb to a The bonus system, which has since been abolished, has been prematurely extended until 2023. The contract was apparently also one of the controversial pension regulations supplemented, which can be found on rbb and some other public broadcasters.

As a result, Singelnstein was entitled to a life pension of 55 percent of his last salary. According to NDR and rbb information, that was 180,000 euros a year. In other contracts of rbb executives, which are available to reporters from NDR and rbb, it is stipulated that pension entitlements increase by one percentage point per year of service in the management. Singelnstein’s pension entitlement should therefore have increased to 58 percent of his last salary when he left at the end of March 2021 – that would be 8,700 euros per month and more than 100,000 euros a year in addition to the statutory pension, which is not counted against it.

In 2020 – despite the previous contract extension until 2023 – the rbbsurprisingly announcedthat Singelnstein will retire in April 2021. At the time, the broadcaster did not comment on the reasons for the premature end and only said that the former editor-in-chief would remain “connected to rbb as a consultant”. What that means is only now becoming clear: On the one hand, according to the contract, he should continue to advise the broadcaster for as long as his contract as editor-in-chief originally ran – until March 2023. On the other hand, after research by NDR and the rbb research team, he received this Time paid a monthly fee of 6,300 euros through the consulting contract, booked as “author/other activity”. All in all, he earns the same income as he did before as editor-in-chief.

In addition, there is another anomaly: As with other senior rbb employees, Singelnstein’s salary also recently contained a so-called “performance-related” component, which was only to be paid out if certain target agreements had been reached. It is striking that Singelnstein apparently receives a sum in retirement today that would correspond to his last salary including such a bonus. If one assumes that this share should only be paid out subject to the condition that certain goals have also been achieved, the question arises as to why Singelnstein apparently receives the full amount today – or: How valid these target agreements were.

A spokesman for rbb said on request that one could “not comment on contract details for contractual reasons (non-disclosure clause)”, but confirmed that Singelnstein “had still taken on some tasks for rbb” since leaving. The rbb wanted to “secure the expertise of Mr. Singelnstein for the rbb”. This includes the further development of the Electronic Media School, the representation of the rbb in the board of trustees of the “Rundfunk Orchester und Choere GmbH” and the “advice on media policy issues for the directorship” as well as the commitment in Brandenburg. According to information from NDR and rbb, the latter should also mean advice on “eastern sensitivities”.

Christoph Singelnstein also referred to non-disclosure clauses in his contracts and left questions about them unanswered, even after several inquiries. The retired ex-editor-in-chief sent his refusals from his rbb email address.

Broadcast: rbb24, November 18, 2022, 7:00 a.m