Flick affair

Last updated

The Flick affair was a West German political scandal of the early 1980s relating to donations by the Flick company, a major German conglomerate, to various political parties, according to Flick manager Eberhard von Brauchitsch, "for the cultivation of the political landscape". [1] Otto Graf Lambsdorff, the federal minister for economic affairs, was forced to resign in 1984 after being accused of accepting bribes from CEO Friedrich Karl Flick.

Contents

The affair was made public by the news magazine Der Spiegel , which also gave the public access to documents and files that had been confiscated from the Flick company. [2]

Affair

The Flick affair began in 1975 with a share trade where the Flick company sold shares worth 1.9 Billion Deutsche Mark from Daimler AG to the Deutsche Bank. In January 1976, the Flick Company filed a tax exemption for this deal at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, which was approved by Minister Hans Friderichs (FDP) and later also by his successor and party colleague Otto Graf Lambsdorff. [3]

In 1981, tax fraud investigator Klaus Förster, after lengthy inquiries, found evidence that there had been money transfers from the Flick company to all parties that were represented in the German Bundestag parliament. A cash book kept by Flick company accountant Rudolph Diehl listed that next to other transfers, 250,000 Deutsche Mark were transferred to CSU chairman Franz Josef Strauss and 565,000 Deutsche Mark were transferred to CDU chairman Helmut Kohl, [4] as well as payments to FDP and SPD politicians.

Trial

Lambsdorff resigned from his office as a federal minister on 27 June 1984, after formal accusation was admitted at the Bonn regional court, and Friedrichs had to step down as the CEO of the Dresdner Bank. [5] On the basis testimonies and documents, however, a quid pro quo was impossible to prove.

On 16 February 1987, Friderichs, Lambsdorff and von Brauchitsch were only found guilty of tax evasion and assistance to tax evasion respectively. Von Brauchitsch received a suspended sentence, and both politicians were sentenced to a monetary penalty. [5]

The Kohl government tried to pass a bill in 1984 which implied that everyone who had improperly received tax deductions for donations to political parties would be given an amnesty. [2]

Committee of inquiry

In 1984 the Bundestag found a committee to investigate. [6] Two years of proceedings clarified that between 1969 and 1989, politicians of all major parties (CDU, CSU, FDP, and SPD) had received money from the Flick company: a total of 25 million Deutsche Mark. [3]

During the proceedings, the CDU politician Rainer Barzel resigned from his office as President of the Bundestag on 25 October 1984. He had been accused of being entangled in the Flick scandal; a charge rejected by both the inquiry committee and the prosecuting authorities two years later.

Green MP Otto Schily, member of the investigation committee, later filed a complaint against Chancellor Helmut Kohl for alleged false testimony.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Democratic Party (Germany)</span> Centre to Centre-right liberal political party in Germany

The Free Democratic Party is a liberal political party in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 German federal election</span>

Federal elections were held in Germany on 27 September 1998 to elect the members of the 14th Bundestag. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged as the largest faction in parliament for the first time since 1972, with its leader Gerhard Schröder becoming chancellor. The Christian Democrats had their worst election result since 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 German federal election</span>

Federal elections were held in Germany on 16 October 1994 to elect the members of the 13th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor in a narrowly re-elected coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). This elected Bundestag was the largest in history until 2017, numbering 672 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 West German federal election</span> Federal election in West Germany

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 March 1983 to elect the members of the 10th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 West German federal election</span>

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 5 October 1980 to elect the members of the 9th Bundestag. Although the CDU/CSU remained the largest faction in parliament, Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party remained Chancellor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Graf Lambsdorff</span> German politician (1926–2009)

Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff, was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Eberhard von Brauchitsch was a German industrial manager. In his work for Flick KG, he was responsible for the donation of about 26 million Deutsche Mark to all the major German political parties and their associated foundations between 1969 and 1981. As a result of this scandal, he was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on probation and 550,000 DM financial penalty for tax evasion. In 1982 he became a lawyer and management consultant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hintze</span> German politician

Peter Hintze was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 1990 until his death in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walther Leisler Kiep</span> German politician

Walther Gottlieb Louis Leisler Kiep was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a member of the Bundestag between 1965 and 1976 and again from 1980 to 1982. After switching to state-level politics, he served as minister of economy (1976–77) and minister of finance (1976–80) in Lower Saxony under Ernst Albrecht. In 1982, Kiep was the leading candidate for the CDU in two successive state elections in Hamburg, losing both to incumbent Klaus von Dohnányi. From 1971 until 1992, he was treasurer of his party at the federal level. In this position, Kiep installed a system of unreported income accounts, leading to the CDU donations scandal in 1999.

References

  1. ↑ Girling, John (1997). Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy. routledge. p. 17. ISBN   0-415-15206-2.
  2. 1 2 "War Games". www.multinationalmonitor.org. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 "- Die "fünfte Gewalt"". Deutschlandradio Kultur (in German). Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Was hat Kohl mit Flick zu tun?". ZEIT ONLINE. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 Kremp, Herbert (12 September 2010). "Ein deutscher Europäer". Welt Online. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Das Parlament, Nr. 11 2006, 13.03.2006 - Streit um die gekaufte Republik". webarchiv.bundestag.de. Retrieved 11 October 2015.

Also:

$DTE$

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.