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Bärbel Dieckmann, former Lord Mayor of Bonn, in the Gürzenich Festival Hall in Cologne, which functions as the courtroom of the administrative court
Photo: Henning Kaiser / dpa
The former Lord Mayor of Bonn Bärbel Dieckmann (SPD) has to pay one million euros in damages to the city of Bonn.
That was decided by the Cologne Administrative Court.
The city had sued Dieckmann for the financial debacle in connection with the construction of the WCCB congress center in Bonn.
In the civil case, the court ruled that Dieckmann had violated official duties, among other things by not informing the city council sufficiently about possible financial risks.
A former Bonn city director, who was also complained, must also pay one million euros in damages according to the judgment.
Dieckmann had rejected the allegations in the process.
Everyone in the council was informed, she said.
"It was precisely the knowledge of the great responsibility we had in this project that prompted us to work very precisely."
Should the city administration have checked the investor's creditworthiness?
The city accused both defendants of violating their official duties.
One of the central questions was whether the city administration itself should have checked the investor's creditworthiness before the contract for the WCCB congress center was awarded in 2005.
Because after the conclusion of the contracts it turned out that in reality he did not even have nearly the necessary equity of 40 million euros.
As a result of his bankruptcy, construction costs exploded, and the WCCB, which was intended as a flagship project, became a financial debacle for the city.
Since the halls of the administrative court were too small in terms of the corona protective measures, the court hearing took place in Cologne's Gürzenich.
Appeals against the judgment are possible.
Dieckmann's lawyer said they would now wait for the written reasoning for the verdict before deciding on the appeal.
(File numbers: 19 K 4769/18, 19 K 4770/18)
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kfr / dpa