Prozesse: Zentrale Zeugen widersprechen Ex-Minister Scheuer

The star witness in the trial against former German Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer (CSU), Klaus-Peter Schulenberg (75), testified in the Landgericht Berlin about an "offer to postpone" from Scheuer in November 2018. The offer involved contract agreements for the car-maut system until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had ruled on a lawsuit.

The ECJ later overturned the car-maut in June 2019, causing a million-dollar loss for taxpayers. Scheuer and the former Verkehrs-Staatssekretär Gerhard Schulz (60) had been accused of lying "deliberately untrue" and "contrary to their actual memory" in the Bundestag's investigation committee, stating they could not remember an "offer to postpone" in November 2018.

Both deny the allegations, with Scheuer stating he "has no memory of an offer to postpone." The meeting in the ministry with Schulenberg, Kapsch, and Scheuer was described as a spontaneous but earnest idea to relieve the stalled situation and give the parties time. Schulenberg emphasized he had no grudge against Scheuer and had no motivation to make false statements, adding he felt sympathy for Scheuer's situation.

Kapsch, Schulenberg's business partner, reported that the meeting focused on financing issues and a looming tight schedule before the planned start of the car-maut. Schulenberg then said, "the ECJ procedure will run anyway, let's wait." This statement was not pre-planned by him. He also stated that the matter was quickly dropped from the table.

The ministry stated that they should not worry because there were expert assessments of the car-maut, which deemed it ECJ-compliant. Kapsch and Schulenberg affirmed their statements made at the Maut investigation committee of the Bundestag. Their interrogation is scheduled to continue on this Wednesday. The planned car-maut in Germany was stopped by the ECJ in June 2019 as unlawful, with the central issue being that only inland drivers should be exempt from the car tax in the Kfz-Steuer. Scheuer was the Federal Minister of Transport at the time.