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Katrin Vernau: A thousand euros rent subsidy?
Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa
Katrin Vernau came from WDR to clean up at RBB.
The head of administration from the Rhine is supposed to bring the broadcaster on the Spree, which has been shaken by financial and luxury scandals, back on track.
After just a few weeks, the 49-year-old interim director is now being criticized for lavish salaries.
Specifically: In addition to her annual salary of 297,000 euros, the new RBB boss also receives a monthly rent subsidy of 1,000 euros, reported the »Bild« newspaper.
"There's no justification for that," the newspaper quoted Christoph Reinhardt, a representative of the broadcaster's freelancers, as saying.
"The director would be well advised to forego the rent subsidy," he said accordingly.
The employees are particularly outraged that Vernau has only now admitted the housing allowance.
If she acts according to the same logic as her predecessors, you wouldn't trust her to stand for a new beginning.
Anger about the consulting contract with Singelnstein
It is piquant that Vernau has prescribed a hearty austerity program for the station.
Because of the high expenses during the term of office of the director Patricia Schlesinger, who has since been fired without notice, and the resigned chief controller Wolf-Dieter Wolf, the RBB now has to save millions.
Otherwise there is a risk of a minus of 174 million euros from 2028. Effects on the program cannot be ruled out, the workforce is in turmoil.
According to the "Bild" newspaper, the director justified herself with her short-term move to Berlin.
"I live with two suitcases, could not have taken office until January," she is quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, new details about allegations of nepotism and felt at the RBB are becoming known.
RBB is said to have concluded a well-paid consultancy contract with its outgoing editor-in-chief Christoph Singelnstein – in addition to his lifelong entitlement to an annual pension of more than 100,000 euros and his statutory pension.
Singelnstein has not yet commented on this and referred to non-disclosure clauses.
In the affair, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating several officials on suspicion of infidelity and accepting advantages.
In addition to Wolf and Schlesinger, the husband of the ex-director, the former SPIEGEL journalist Gerhard Spörl, was also criticized.
The accused deny the allegations.
Apr