“Suspected Infidelity”
The public prosecutor’s office is investigating against the Greens’ federal executive committee because of special payments
The Green party leadership from left: Federal Treasurer Marc Urbatsch, Deputy Federal Chair Ricarda Lang, Federal Chair Robert Habeck, Federal Chair Annalena Baerbock, Federal Managing Director Michael Kellner, Deputy Federal Chair Jamila Schaefer
© Malte Ossowski/SVEN SIMON/ / Picture Alliance
The affair about the controversial special payments by the Greens from 2020 is expanding. Now the public prosecutor is investigating against the entire federal executive board.
The Berlin public prosecutor’s office has initiated investigations against the entire federal executive committee of the Greens because of controversial special corona payments. There is “the initial suspicion of infidelity,” said the spokesman for the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, Martin Steltner, of the AFP news agency on Wednesday. The reason for this was “several ads” from private individuals. Steltner thus confirmed information from the magazine “Spiegel”.
“It’s about the participation of the members of the federal executive board in decisions on the payment of so-called “corona bonuses”, which – as is already known – were paid to all employees of the federal office and at the same time to the federal executive board in 2020,” explained the party spokesman . The Corona bonus of 1,500 euros per person was intended to compensate for the burdens caused by working from home and the renovation of the building.
Baerbock and Habeck part of the Green Board
According to the Greens spokesman, the board was entitled to make the relevant decisions “from the point of view of all those involved”. The members have since repaid the bonuses. “The board members concerned and the federal office are cooperating fully with the public prosecutor’s office in order to clarify the matter quickly and completely.”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economics Minister Robert Habeck, both of whom are currently Green Party chairmen, belong to the six-member federal executive board. Other members are the deputy federal chairmen Jamila Schäfer and Ricarda Lang, federal manager Michael Kellner and treasurer Marc Urbatsch.
Since everyone except Urbatsch is also a member of the Bundestag, Parliament had to be informed before the investigation could be initiated. According to “Spiegel”, this happened in December, and the public prosecutor’s office formally initiated the criminal investigation on January 6th.