State Parliament of Lower Saxony: Lawyer: Investigation against SPD politicians – connection to noise

According to his lawyer, the SPD parliamentary group leader in Lower Saxony, Stefan Politze, is being investigated in connection with the allegations against the Berlin SPD parliamentary group leader Steffen Krach. “The connection to this investigative complex is clear,” said Politze’s lawyer Matthias Waldraff to the German Press Agency.

His client cannot imagine “that Krach behaved in a criminally relevant manner, that he committed a crime.” This is legally important because Politze is suspected of having aided and abetted agreements that restrict competition. This offense presupposes that there is a main offense.

“If that doesn’t exist, then you can’t have aided and abetted,” said the lawyer. The same applies to the suspicion of incitement to grant advantages against Politze. “He didn’t commit any betrayal of secrets either,” said the lawyer.

The “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” had initially reported that the investigations against Politze were ongoing because of an initial suspicion of aiding and abetting anti-competitive agreements in tenders in conjunction with the violation of trade secrets and because of a suspicion of incitement to grant advantages in two cases.

The Hanover public prosecutor's office confirmed last week that it was conducting an investigation against the SPD politician. When asked, the authority did not say what the process was about.

Attorney Waldraff did not want to provide further details about the suspicions against Politze. Politze will comment comprehensively on this - but only to the public prosecutor and not publicly.

Lower Saxony's state parliament had lifted Politze's immunity that morning, as he himself confirmed. “I don’t know anything about the reasons at the moment,” said Politze. «We will cooperate fully and provide all documents that are requested. I have nothing to blame myself for at the moment.” In order not to hinder the investigation, he will wait to make further statements.

The Berlin SPD parliamentary group leader Krach, for his part, is confronted with investigations by the Hanover public prosecutor's office, which have to do with his former work as president of the Hanover region. According to the investigators, this involves, among other things, the initial suspicion of accepting benefits in two cases. Krach rejects all allegations. The presumption of innocence applies.