ZDF documentary
On the trail of a mess: Tönnies slaughterhouse or a story about undeclared work, bribes, social fraud
Is Germany’s largest slaughterhouse in Tönnies a real mess?
© Peter Endig / Picture Alliance
Germany’s largest slaughterhouse is a scandal-ridden company. For years. Two investigative reporters have now investigated the allegations for the documentary “The Tönnies System”. Your finds are explosive.
Dirties and the Tönnies company belong together. Dirt is even the company’s business model. After all, it is Germany’s largest slaughterhouse. But Tönnies doesn’t just make the headlines with the animals, but with other, yes, messes. Poor working conditions, low wages, sleazy housing – the list of scandals surrounding the meat manufacturer is long. But what about the allegations? The ZDFzoom reporters Hannes Vogel and Tobias Zwior went in search of clues for the documentary “The Tönnies System”, met whistleblowers and got their hands on explosive material.
Summer 2020. A corona outbreak occurs in the Tönnies plant in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. More than 1000 employees are infected. However, contact tracing is difficult. Data is missing. Boss Clemens Tönnies is in need of explanation. The suspicion quickly arises that the employees could be illegally employed from abroad. The district announces a review and Tönnies a revolution. The CEO said at the time that he wanted to “change the industry”. Almost two years have passed since then. What has the district found out so far? The reporters are hoping for an answer from Rheda-Wiedenbrück’s district administrator, Sven-Georg Adenauer. But he waves it away and refuses to provide information. A reaction that raises questions.
Tönnies, a scandal-ridden company
Vogel and Zwior start to do their own research. They travel to Bulgaria, Cyprus, to the German-Dutch border, talk to people from inside and around the Tönnies Group and gain exclusive insight into countless sensitive documents. The reporters repeatedly come across suspected irregularities, find massive indications of illegal employment and indications of systematic social security fraud and money laundering, at least in the corporate environment. Informants also report bribery payments. Confronted with these finds, the slaughterhouse, as usual, rejects all allegations. The claim that Tönnies managers were bribed is unfounded. And so forth.
It is not the first time that Tönnies has had to deal with such allegations. Raids were carried out at various Tönnies locations and at Clemens Tönnies’ villa as early as 2007. It was determined on suspicion of tax evasion, undeclared work and bribery payments. The main witness for the prosecution was a former manager of the company who later died under unclear circumstances with poison in his blood. The case is closed.
indications of dubious machinations
Tönnies has wanted to since 2020, said company spokesman Fabian Reinkemeier star already at the end of last year, have changed some things for the better. The employees, he said, are all employed by the company and not by subcontractors. At the time, however, he also conceded that there was still cooperation with the former contractors who would help recruit new employees, for example in other Eastern European countries. Tönnies wants to do this himself in the medium term, but is still dependent on experts in this field. Is the so-called transformation process at the Tönnies house perhaps just old wine in new bottles?
Interview after interview, document after document, puzzle piece by puzzle piece, Zwior and Hannes put together a picture of Germany’s most economically successful meat producer, which the broadcaster describes as “in parts dubious”. What the reporters came across in their investigative research can be seen in “The Tönnies System”. Documentation is expected by April 27, 2024 available in the ZDFmediathek.