Steffen Krach: Public prosecutor wants to lift the immunity of the Berlin SPD leader

Hanover. The Hanover public prosecutor's office has requested that the parliamentary immunity of the Berlin SPD state and parliamentary group leader Steffen Krach be lifted. The application to the Berlin House of Representatives was received by the Senate Department for Justice and Consumer Protection on Wednesday (November 11th), agency spokesman Oliver Eisenhauer told the German Press Agency. When and how Parliament would deal with the request remained unclear.

The investigations into Krach have been on hold since the constitutive session of the House of Representatives on October 29th. The Berlin parliament has generally approved investigations against its members in advance. Before such a procedure is initiated, the President of Parliament must be informed.

In the Krach case, however, the investigations began before his mandate began. According to Eisenhauer, the public prosecutor's office therefore considers a separate waiver of immunity to be necessary.

The investigation concerns the bidding process for the sale of a clinic site in Lehrte near Hanover. Confidential information about a competing offer is said to have been passed on to a bidder. Krach was president of the Hanover region at the time.

There are allegations against him, among other things, of violating trade secrets and accepting benefits. Krach rejects the allegations.

Other high-ranking SPD politicians are also being investigated

Investigations continue against the former Lower Saxony SPD parliamentary group leader Stefan Politze, the SPD member of the Bundestag Adis Ahmetović and an entrepreneur. Politze and Ahmetović also rejected the allegations. The presumption of innocence applies to all accused.