Prozesse: Hauptzeugen widersprechen Ex-Minister Scheuer

Im trial against former German Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer (CSU), two main witnesses have contradicted Scheuer's statements on a key point. Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, the head of ticket specialist CTS Eventim, testified before the Berlin District Court about an "offer to postpone" being made to Scheuer in November 2018.

This would involve signing contracts for the car charging scheme to wait until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had decided on a lawsuit. The court overturned the car charging scheme in June 2019. Scheuer was accused of having signed contracts in late 2018 before legal certainty existed, resulting in a multi-million euro loss for taxpayers.

The accusation claims that Scheuer (52) and former Federal Secretary of Transport Gerhard Schulz (60) had falsely testified to the Bundestag's investigation committee that they could not remember any "offer to postpone" in November 2018. Both Scheuer and Schulz deny the accusations. When questioned again in the continuation of the trial, Schulenberg stated that he has no memory of an "offer to postpone."

In the meeting at the Federal Ministry of Transport on November 2018, Kapsch (67) stated that the two businessmen, along with Scheuer and former Federal Secretary Schulz, discussed financing issues and a tight deadline before the planned start of the car charging scheme. They were looking for solutions. Schulenberg then said that the ECJ process was already underway, so they would wait.

This statement had not been agreed upon with the ministry beforehand. Schulenberg's statement was met with a response from the ministry that they should not worry, as there were expert assessments on the car charging scheme, which deemed it compliant with European law. Schulenberg and Schulenberg reaffirmed statements they had previously made in the car charging scheme's investigation committee of the Bundestag.