As of: January 22, 2024, 9:18 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
Will soon be questioned by the state prosecutor's office: Eching's mayor Sebastian Thaler © Lehmann
New chapter in the Thaler case: With the withdrawal of the objection against the penalty order for breach of trust, Eching's mayor has now been legally convicted.
Eching
- In a press release, Mayor Sebastian Thaler justified this step with the “very stressful situation for me and my family”.
He also hopes “that calm will finally return to our community and that local politics can once again concentrate fully on the really important challenges.”
Thaler continues: “I very much hope that the end of the process will make human interaction with one another possible again.” The community leader also points out that he has fulfilled his obligations and led the community “despite the two-and-a-half-year process.”
The conviction came about because Sebastian Thaler had the court costs as well as claims for damages and pain and suffering paid through the municipality after an argument with an SUV driver at Lake Eching in 2018.
The problem: Both the Landshut Regional Court and the Munich Higher Regional Court decided that Thaler did not act as the head of the town hall in the incident, but as a private person.
Furthermore, as the indictment states, he did not fully inform the local council about developments in the civil proceedings.
He was ultimately convicted because of a “financial benefit” of 8,420 euros – money that the community paid.
From 90 daily rates upwards you have a criminal record
Even if the amount of the penalty order is not known, the press office of the Freising district court, where the hearing was supposed to have taken place on Monday, announced that a fine of 240 daily rates had been imposed on Thaler.
Since 90 daily rates is the limit, Eching's mayor has a criminal record.
What will happen next with his career in the town hall chair is still up in the air.
In any case, the state public prosecutor's office will now take action - as soon as the official confirmation from the Freising district court is available.
If this is the case, “we will continue the disciplinary proceedings and give the local election official the opportunity to respond to the allegations,” press spokesman and senior regional attorney Robert Kirchmaier told the FT.
“I cannot predict today how the disciplinary authority’s further investigations will develop.”
The Echinger local council will meet for a special meeting on Wednesday
It is also questionable how the Eching local council will react to the latest developments.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, there will be another special meeting on the Thaler case (public from 7:30 p.m., town hall).
Leon Eckert, third mayor and “chief enlightener”, announced in advance that he was relieved that “this process is now over after two years”.
He hopes that the state attorney's office will quickly provide clarity.
The SPD local association, which nominated Thaler as a candidate for mayor in 2016, said it was “very surprised” that Thaler accepted the penalty order.
“We positively recognize that this (...) procedure is shortened,” said local boss Victor Weizenegger.
The comrades were not informed about the community leader's actions - which was probably also because he "rejected offers of talks from the SPD until the very end."
SPD wants to wait for the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings before a “full assessment”.
Before carrying out “a full assessment of the mayor’s behavior,” the Social Democrats want to wait for the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings.
Weizenegger: “This should be self-evident in a constitutional state.” Unfortunately, the behavior of certain actors in political competition shows “that for some the enforcement of particular interests is more important than the well-being of the community.”
ba