From BZ/dpa
The chairman of the supervisory board of Messe Berlin, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, who came under criticism in the RBB affair, is resigning.
A spokesman for the Senate Department for Economics told the German Press Agency on Tuesday: “Today Mr. Wolf-Dieter Wolf informed the Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, Stephan Schwarz, that he is resigning from the supervisory board at Messe Berlin and thus also from chairing the to resign from the Supervisory Board with immediate effect in order to avoid possible damage to Messe Berlin GmbH and also not to burden the ongoing investigations.”
In addition to his position on the trade fair supervisory board, Wolf is also the chairman of the board of directors of the public service broadcaster Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). However, his office there is suspended while the allegations are being clarified.
The online medium “Business Insider” (like BZ belongs to Axel Springer) got the whole case rolling. In summary, the question arises as to whether Wolf and the now resigned ARD boss and RBB director Patricia Schlesinger could have treated possible conflicts of interest too laxly, for example when awarding consultancy contracts for a station construction project.
Her husband also received orders from Messe Berlin. Schlesinger and Wolf rejected the allegations. Investigations are currently being carried out in both houses, but the results are not yet available. The public prosecutor is also investigating ex officio against Schlesinger, her husband and Wolf.
Senator Schwarz said: The supervisory board of the state-owned trade fair will deal with the issues raised on September 1st. “The basis for this should be the results of the compliance investigation of the trade fair and the ongoing audits by the Senate Departments for Economics and Finance. Even if these results are not yet certain, I consider Mr. Wolf’s step to be correct and necessary.”
According to the Senate administration, there is no time limit when exercising the post of chief supervisor at the fair. A chairman is elected from among the members of the supervisory body.
Wolf had been chief supervisor since 2017 and a member of the supervisory board since 2010. Originally, there was this plan: In April, Wolf reportedly told the Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises that he wanted to resign his supervisory board mandate in autumn of this year for reasons of age.
