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Patricia Schlesinger, ex-RBB director
Photo: Thomas Ernst / rbb
The RBB wants to be able to assert possible claims against the broadcaster boss in the Patricia Schlesinger affair.
According to the head of the board of directors, Dorette König, the broadcaster is currently working on dissolving Schlesinger's contract.
In a special session in the Brandenburg state parliament, König did not give any precise details.
»I can only tell you that we do not rule out dismissal without notice.«
There had previously been speculation about a severance payment for Schlesinger because she had brought her lawyer into play in a letter to the RBB committees.
König said that everything would be done to ensure that the RBB still had the opportunity to "assert claims against Ms. Schlesinger".
The scandal is about allegations such as controversial consulting contracts for an RBB construction project that has now been put on hold, an expensive company car for Schlesinger with massage seats, the catering of guests in their private apartment at RBB's expense with allegedly false bills, the salary increase plus a bonus system.
The renovation of the executive floor with chic furniture for 1.4 million euros caused resentment, and Schlesinger's London trip is also being questioned.
The Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating Schlesinger, her husband Gerhard Spörl and the resigned chief inspector Wolf-Dieter Wolf on suspicion of infidelity and accepting advantages.
Wolf and Schlesinger had rejected allegations directed against them.
Reports of a bonus system for executives in the public ARD broadcaster were rejected by the managing director of the broadcaster, Hagen Brandstätter, before the state parliamentary committee.
Instead, he spoke of a variable salary system.
“There is no bonus system in the RBB.” There are non-tariff employment contracts.
Accordingly, 27 of them receive variable remuneration.
In addition to the management, there are also department heads and department heads, including radio wave bosses.
Brandstäter did not present any bonus payments for Schlesinger at the meeting, which was televised by RBB.
The broadcaster has so far kept special reports under wraps.
Schlesinger's goals were agreed between her and the head of the board of directors, Wolf.
As far as the management and the directors are concerned, that was agreed between the director and the respective management staff.
Uncertainty about Schlesinger's exact salary
According to Brandstätter, the goals in the station for executives also included cost savings in the program.
At RBB, the TV show "Zibb" was canceled the night before.
Affected employees had expressed great displeasure at the time because their future at the station had initially remained open.
König said that she did not have the target agreements between Wolf and Schlesinger.
She has been trying in vain for days to get the documents from the station.
Wolf gave Schlesinger's "key data" for the salary increase.
She herself did not classify Schlesinger's salary of 303,000 euros - there was a sharp increase of 16 percent - as critical, said König.
You can see things differently in hindsight.
She also pointed out that the last salary that Schlesinger's predecessor, Dagmar Reim, received was 280,000 euros.
RBB representatives stayed away from the first committee meeting
Because of numerous allegations of felt and nepotism against Schlesinger and Wolf, the state parliament had again scheduled a special session, in July the 61-year-old had declined the invitation.
Also, no other RBB representatives appeared at the first meeting.
Reference was made to the ongoing public prosecutor's investigations into Schlesinger and her husband, former SPIEGEL journalist Spörl, and also to an external investigation by a law firm.
After a several-hour meeting, Deputy Steven Breetz (CDU) asked Brandtäter in a louder tone whether he had understood the dimensions of the entire case.
Breetz spoke of a “sitting out kind”.
The station manager replied that he was serious about answering questions.
He still trusts himself to lead the RBB out of the crisis.
Friederike von Kirchbach, who sits on the Broadcasting Council, also said that the council backed her in the Monday session in which Schlesinger was recalled.
Brandenburg's State Secretary for Media Benjamin Grimm (SPD) said that "regardless of the current debate", the RBB state contract provided for closer control, for example by the state audit offices.
The coordinator of the state broadcasting commission, Heike Raab (SPD), called for clarification on the bonus payments.
The Rhineland-Palatinate State Secretary for Media, the most important media politician in the Federal Republic, told the dpa news agency: "The RBB and its committees must completely clarify all allegations and criticisms, for example awards and bonus payments."
fek/dpa
