Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) has released its legal director, Susann Lange, from her duties. As the public broadcaster announced on Friday evening, this was done by mutual agreement and until the allegations were clarified. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office had expanded the investigation to managers of the current board this week, including Lange.
The interim director Katrin Vernau explained that the release from official duties was not an admission of guilt. “With this far-reaching step, however, we want to avoid any appearance that the current public prosecutor’s investigation could affect the exercise of the office of legal director of the RBB or the management of the legal department,” she said. The presumption of innocence applies without restriction.
The public prosecutor’s office is investigating the former RBB director Patricia Schlesinger, her husband Gerhard Spörl, former head of the administrative board Wolf-Dieter Wolf and the former deputy director on suspicion of infidelity and accepting benefits. Schlesinger resigned at the beginning of August after massive allegations of corruption, taking advantage and wasting contributions and was then dismissed by the supervisory bodies and terminated without notice. The RBB Board of Directors Chairman Wolf-Dieter Wolf resigned.