By Roberto Lamprecht
“Dirty campaigns, detectives and millions will not end it, Hertha BSC remains firmly in our hands.” For Hertha’s east curve, the case is clear.
They want to get rid of investor Lars Windhorst (45), who, according to court documents in Israel, had ex-Hertha President Werner Gegenbauer (72) spied on with the help of a detective agency in order to force him out of office.
Windhorst is said to have promised the Shibumi Strategy Limited detective agency a success fee of almost five million euros. On a second poster, Hertha’s fans are demanding that they be kicked out: “Windhorst out of our club!”
It is clear to many that the investor is threatened with being kicked out of the eV! How would the exclusion actually work?
Not every member can submit the application that would be dealt with in Hertha’s association court. According to the Articles of Association, only one member concerned (in this case, for example, Werner Gegenbauer or the Supervisory Board member Torsten-Jörn Klein) or the Executive Committee would be authorized. That would probably refer to behavior of the investor that is grossly damaging to the association.
The east curve shows their message on a huge poster: “Windhorst out of our club!” Photo: picture alliance/dpa
BZ learned: There is still no application. But the relationship with the Presidium is very tense.
Lars Windhorst (45) should have written to Hertha’s presidium by Monday about the suspicion of espionage. Windhorst had blasphemed about this request from the presidency on Facebook: “All this has nothing to do with a new beginning and respect.”
A dig at new President Kay Bernstein, who on behalf of his committee also informed the members that he had commissioned a law firm to investigate the Windhorst affair. The document was shared on Facebook, allegedly before Windhorst found out about it himself.
Bernstein even agrees with Windhorst in this criticism, saying to RBB: “He rightly criticized the communication. So he’s right about one point.”
When BZ asked whether Windhorst Montag had complied with the request, Hertha pointed out that it would only comment once the law firm had investigated the matter sufficiently.
The relationship between the club and the investor is shattered, and Windhorst is threatened with expulsion from the club. However, his position as a shareholder (he invested 374 million in Hertha, holds 64.7 percent of KGaA) would not be in danger if he was excluded from the club.