Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - In the trial against the voted-out Frankfurt mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD), the former special representative of the Frankfurt workers' welfare organization (Awo), Hannelore Richter, testified that Feldmann had not granted the social association any advantages. Feldmann did not give the "Awo the black under the fingernails", the judge said on Wednesday before the district court. The ex-OB was not corrupt. "I didn't buy him and he couldn't be bought," Richter said.
Several investigations are underway against judges, including for granting advantages. She has been charged with suspected fraud worth millions. Her lawyer has denied the allegations.
The fact that she hired the then-girlfriend of the mayor as head of a newly planned German-Turkish daycare center, even though she lacked managerial experience, had nothing to do with Feldmann's relationship with the young woman, Richter said. She was very impressed by this during a conversation, both professionally and personally. In addition, she had not assumed that the relationship would lead to marriage.
Accompanied by two lawyers, Richter verbosely described her antipathy towards Feldmann. When he told her about his first candidacy for the office of mayor, she said to him: "You sausage will never be mayor".
The public prosecutor's office accuses Feldmann of having accepted donations and other benefits from the Awo. In return, he wanted to benevolently consider the interests of the social association. Feldmann has so far denied the allegations. The 64-year-old was voted out in a referendum on November 6th.
The case against Feldmann is linked to the Awo scandal involving allegations of fraud amounting to millions of euros against former management officials of the association in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. Richter was managing director of Awo Wiesbaden until the beginning of 2020 and had also taken on special tasks at Awo Frankfurt.
