By Stefan Peter and Ralf Schuler
Patricia Schlesinger resigns as RBB director after massive allegations!
“Patricia Schlesinger is resigning from her position as director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) with immediate effect and resigning as head of the station,” the public broadcaster announced on Sunday. Schlesinger’s deputy Hagen Brandstätter will take over the management with immediate effect, as the broadcaster further announced.
Previously, Schlesinger is said to have offered that she waives the further fulfillment of her contract, as BZ learned from a member of the Broadcasting Council. Instead, she offered to negotiate the specific date of her withdrawal. Schlesinger informed the chairmen of the Broadcasting Council at 7 p.m. by email.
The waiver is in accordance with the “contractual regulation, taking into account a notice period of six months to the end of the month with effect from February 28, 2023”. She is ready to shorten this period if it is a “contractual waiver”. “I or my lawyer have already made a proposal to you on this.”
Means: Schlesinger throws up, but wants to be paid more or receive a severance payment.
To justify her resignation, Schlesinger writes of “defamation” to which she is exposed: “But the personal accusations and defamation have reached a level that makes it personally impossible for me to continue in office.” The presumption of innocence applies, which is currently ongoing the external investigation. A whistleblower system was also set up at the station for this purpose. Results are not expected for a few weeks.
At the end of June, “Business Insider” (like BZ belongs to Axel Springer) got the whole thing rolling. The previously unsolved allegations range from questionable consulting contracts to an RBB construction project that has now been put on hold, a large salary increase for Schlesinger to a good 300,000 euros and an additional bonus system. It is also about alleged food with “multipliers” at RBB’s expense in your private apartment and a luxurious company car with massage seats, for which there is said to have been a very high discount.
RBB Broadcasting Council President Frederike von Kirchbach: “If Patricia Schlesinger resigns from her post, that is the right step in the current situation, because the extensive allegations can now be clarified independently of everyday business in rbb. I thank her for this far-reaching decision. The Broadcasting Council will be able to deal with the new situation in its special session on Monday and advise what the next steps should be.
Retirement as ARD chairman
Schlesinger had previously announced her immediate resignation as ARD chairman in the “Tagesschau” on Thursday evening. Since then, however, the pressure has continued to mount.
There had previously been calls for resignation against her as RBB boss from Brandenburg politics. The RBB staff council expressed its dissatisfaction with the course of the investigation on the intranet.
In addition, new details about the allegations came up in several reports this Sunday.