Regensburg, which is not poor in lawsuits involving corrupt politicians and entrepreneurs, is richer by one process. The proceedings against the CSU member of the state parliament and Regensburg local politician Franz Rieger began on Monday. He has to answer for extortion, aiding and abetting tax evasion and violation of the political party law before the regional court of Regensburg.
The city, which was actually famous for its cathedral and stone bridge, has been making a name for itself with such processes for several years. In 2019 and 2020, the former Lord Mayor of Regensburg, Joachim Wolbergs, was convicted of accepting benefits and taking bribes. The first judgment was recently overturned by the Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig because the judges found it too mild. Wolbergs had been convicted, but remained unpunished because, in the opinion of the Regensburg judge, he had already suffered enough. The new negotiation will take place in Munich. In the third Regensburg trial, the former CSU city councilor Christian Schlegl was on trial, he was found guilty of aiding and abetting tax evasion.
So now Franz Rieger, who started the week in a good mood, or at least he gave the impression when he entered room 104. At the trials against Wolbergs one was used to something completely different, the partly angry, partly desperate statements of the ex-mayor in front of and in the meeting room are legendary.
Rieger is said to have threatened the building contractor
Quite different from Rieger, who initially wants “balanced reporting” in the direction of journalists. However, there was less to report than expected, because after the indictment had been read out, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges withdrew to the back room at the initiative of the court for legal talks.
The previously read out indictment is illuminating in itself. It shows – once again – how matted the network of politicians and entrepreneurs in Regensburg is. It’s about 2013, when Franz Rieger was campaigning, he wanted to be re-elected as a member of parliament. The Regensburg resident has been a member of the state parliament for the CSU since 2008. The indictment accuses Rieger, among other things, of extortion. According to the public prosecutor’s office, at that time he was soliciting donations of 60,000 euros from a building contractor. When this refused, Rieger is said to have exerted pressure. With a view to the municipal elections in 2014, Rieger, who is not only a member of the state parliament but also a member of the Regensburg city council, is said to have said to the developer: “You already know who will decide on the building projects and the building permits in the future.” The entrepreneur then felt compelled to donate just under 10,000 euros, the publication limit for party donations, and is said to have paid two bogus bills from a Regensburg PR company amounting to 30,000 euros.
It is the same building contractor who already donated to the convicted ex-mayor Wolbergs. In this matter, he has already accepted a penalty warrant for bribery. During the Wolbergs trial, his statements were read out to the criminal police; at that time he spoke of a “gradation of begging” on the part of the Regensburg politicians. While Wolbergs appeared as a supplicant, Rieger coerced him. Even in court on Monday, Rieger looked more confident than Wolbergs.
At the beginning of the donation scandal, Rieger is self-confident
Otherwise there are many parallels. The allegedly blackmailed building contractor is not the only known face that one will encounter in this fourth chapter of the Regensburg corruption complex. Also mentioned in the indictment is a building contractor who is said to have transferred donations of almost 50,000 euros to Rieger’s CSU district association Regensburg-Stadt through straw men, broken up into smaller tranches of just under 10,000 euros. The system is known from the Wolbergs trials and also from said building contractors: In the 2019 corruption trial, he was already convicted because the court came to the conclusion that he wanted to influence ex-Mayor Wolbergs politically with his donations.
At the beginning of the scandals surrounding Regensburg’s inglorious amalgamations between politicians and the construction industry, Rieger excelled himself with the sentence: “The donation and corruption affair is an affair between Wolberg and his SPD. And it remains their problem alone.” However, Rieger himself has now become a problem for the CSU, at least since the mask affair. The CSU MP is said to have enriched himself in dubious deals, whereupon party leader Markus Söder announced “zero tolerance” for violations of the party’s own code of conduct, also known as the code of honor or ethics. The code has existed since 2013, but in the light of the mask affair, the CSU should be concerned that it does not make the headlines with other semi-silly party members. Rieger is threatened not only with a conviction, but also with expulsion from the party. The main hearing against Rieger should continue on Wednesday. A judgment could be issued in November.