The director of Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), Patricia Schlesinger, billed up to 56.53 euros per head for dinner in her private apartment "without drinks". This emerges from Schlesinger's answer to the questions from the Brandenburg media supervisory authority on compliance allegations, which WELT has received. The broadcaster did not provide any information about the participants in the dinners that were claimed to be “official” – although the supervisors had explicitly asked about it.
Schlesinger has been at the center of allegations for several weeks. Among other things, it is about a construction project of the RBB, high costs for external consultants and orders for the husband of the director. In Brandenburg there is talk of "felz" and "nepotism". In addition to Schlesinger, there are also allegations against the head of the board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, who is now leaving his post. According to information from this newspaper, he did not answer the questions of the media regulator.
Schlesinger's letter was received by the responsible authority of the state of Brandenburg shortly before the reply deadline last Thursday. Media Secretary Benjamin Grimm, who is responsible for media supervision, sent the questions to the RBB officials on July 8 and called for "timely and comprehensive clarification".
On the question of a close relationship between consultants hired by RBB and Wolf, Schlesinger writes that the chairman of the board of directors admitted “in the second half of 2021” “that he has business relationships with individual consultants on a construction project in Berlin”. This connection was probably not questioned by the directorship. Literally it says: "The RBB does not know what specific business relationships are involved and how long they have existed."
Nevertheless, Schlesinger comes to the conclusion in her letter: "From the point of view of the RBB, these business relationships of the chairman of the board of directors do not prevent the consultants from being employed by the RBB." , according to the director, ran correctly because it was the “more economical variant” compared to other properties checked by the broadcaster.
Schlesinger explains the controversial dinners in her private apartment: "In the period from 2018 to 2022, I organized a total of nine meals with multipliers in my private rooms for business purposes." had to reckon with considerable rental costs."
"Between 3 and 11 people took part for each dinner", the costs "per guest for the meal (without drinks) were between 23.12 and 56.53 euros gross". The whole thing, according to the director, "served the interests of the RBB and the goal of entering into a close exchange with leaders from different social groups and institutions". If "partners of those invited were also present, (...) this was considered appropriate". Schlesinger had ordered the food from a catering service.
Both Schlesinger and Wolf, who is actually a real estate entrepreneur, claim to have acted in accordance with the rules when awarding consultant contracts for the planned new RBB building "Digitales Medienhaus" and honorary jobs for Schlesinger's husband. The events are the subject of an investigation by an external law firm.
Meanwhile, observers continue to puzzle over the reasons for the immense increase in costs for the prestige project "Digital Media House". The requirement of 63 million euros reported to the financial supervisors of the ARD in 2020 has therefore almost tripled within 24 months: to 165 million euros, plus a further 20 million euros for the technical equipment.
While the report by the commission for determining the financial requirements (KEF) in February of this year showed the total expenditure for the Berlin construction project – publicly unchallenged by the broadcaster – at 95.2 million euros, the RBB top management around director Schlesinger only estimated the costs internally a month later in March 2022 with 185 million euros. The compliance lawyers will have to clarify what caused this explosion in costs and what influence consultants might have had.
A presentation dated July 4, 2022 (internal title: "Milestone 2"), which is available to WELT, also gives details of the refinancing. The management expects financial costs from interest and repayment of 9.713 million euros per year just from the new building, which is to be built from 2024 and should be ready for occupancy in 2026. Employees fear that the notoriously cash-strapped regional broadcaster could raise these amounts, at least in part, through savings on programming and royalties.
It is unclear what costs the broadcasting license fee payers will incur if the project is not implemented in the planned form. So far, the RBB has not provided any information on the amount of the start-up costs, nor on the consultant fees, which are currently under scrutiny. Around six million euros are said to have flowed to external employees so far. The new building is part of a “change” program. Name: "New RBB 2030". The project is also controversial in the RBB itself.
