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State Secretary Benjamin Grimm: "There was - it seems - a system of wasting public funds"
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Bernd Settnik / dpa
A committee of inquiry in the Brandenburg state parliament wants to shed light on the scandals at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB).
One wants to find out how the legal supervision of the state of Brandenburg has been carried out over the past few years.
The Brandenburg State Secretary responsible for media policy, Benjamin Grimm, was questioned about this - the first witness to be heard publicly in the committee.
According to Grimm, he only found out about abuses at RBB from the media.
For example, he had no knowledge of the controversial bonus system for executives, said the SPD politician in the state parliament in Potsdam.
The background is the scandal at the public ARD broadcaster about felt allegations at the top.
Since the summer of 2022, the focus has been on the director Patricia Schlesinger, who was fired without notice, and the resigned chief supervisor Wolf-Dieter Wolf.
Both rejected allegations.
The Berlin Attorney General is still investigating.
Amid the allegations of nepotism and waste, it also became known that the station had a non-transparent bonus system.
»system of waste«
A representative of the consulting company that further developed the variable salary system for the RBB explained the precise structure to the committee.
According to him, it was gradually extended to the circle of directors.
At the instigation of the chairman of the board of directors, Wolf, the director was later included in the bonus structure.
State Secretary Grimm also said about the RBB scandal: "There was - it seems - a system of wasting public money." And: "What happened will have consequences." more control options for broadcasting bodies.
He did not list the legal supervision itself in this context.
Grimm said about the entire scandal: “The State Chancellery was not aware of any serious legal violations beforehand.” The legal supervision defined in the RBB State Treaty changes between Berlin and Brandenburg every two years.
Brandenburg was in charge of supervision in 2021 and 2022 (until December), i.e. also at the time when the station fell into the unprecedented crisis.
According to the state contract, the ARD broadcaster is subject to state legal supervision.
This can inform the sender of measures or omissions in the event of a violation of legal provisions.
You can also issue a complaint.
Grimm emphasized that it was a question of limited legal supervision - also with regard to the constitutionally protected freedom of broadcasting.
In addition to legal supervision, the state also took the opportunity to take part in broadcaster committee meetings.
ptz/dpa
