Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner on January 6 at an event organized by his party, the FDP-Liberals, in Stuttgart ANDREAS GEBERT (Portal)
The German Christian Lindner, the very liberal guardian of household orthodoxy and household sobriety, has been followed for months by a dark cloud: the shadow of corruption. The question hanging over him is a thorny one: as finance minister, did he get a private million-euro loan to advertise a bank? The doubt has passed from the journalistic to the legal. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office is examining the opening of preliminary proceedings in order to check whether the mortgage granted by BBBank is customary in the market or whether Lindner has received favorable conditions for him.
At the moment the investigations are in a very preliminary phase, so that there can be no talk of a procedure, but the announcement by the public prosecutor’s office brings Lindner, the leader of the FDP parliamentary group and partner of Olaf Scholz, into play in the three-party government with the Social Democrats and the Greens. Should the suspicions prove true, prosecutors could ask for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted in order to investigate him thoroughly. The case has also opened up another stub: The debate over whether Germany’s anti-corruption laws are too permissive has been reactivated.
Lindner’s relationship with BBBank, a rather modest institution in Karlsruhe, south-west Germany, is long and fruitful. In 2014, the politician, then a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament, held the first conference at his headquarters, according to Der Spiegel, the German publication that uncovered the shocking connection to the current minister last October. The business relationship – the talks were for money – lasted for years, even when Lindner represented his formation in the Bundestag.
The Liberal not only attended BBBank events. Between 2017 and 2019, as can still be seen today in the House of Commons digital archive, he gifted banks, consultancies and insurance companies with dozens of gigs. What he charged them does not appear – he was under no obligation to give that information; just to disclose his participation― but the publication calculates that in those years alone he collected between 35,000 and 73,000 euros from the Karlsruhe Society for seven events.
On January 29, 2021, Lindner bought a family home – according to some media, a villa – in the elegant Nikolassee district of Berlin, a green oasis southwest of the German capital. It cost him 1.65 million euros, but BBBank gave him a mortgage of 2.35 million. At that time, the leader of the Liberals was still a member of parliament. After the elections in September 2021 and the subsequent coalition agreement to form a government, the politician became finance minister in December of the same year.
Despite having a private business relationship with the bank and as a federal minister, Lindner has volunteered to record a keynote address for the bank’s centenary celebrations in spring 2022, using complimenting phrases. Just a few weeks after his intervention, the bank granted him a new loan of 450,000 euros to extend the mortgage. The obvious question that everyone is asking in this case, including the anti-corruption prosecutors, is: What made BBBank grant a line of credit that exceeded the purchase price of the house by one million euros?
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Back in October, when Der Spiegel launched the exclusive title, Lindner’s lawyer rejected the accusation that his client had mixed private and public interests. He assured that there was no connection between the speech and the real estate financing. But the publication wonders if the minister disclosed this private relationship before giving the lecture. It is not the same, argue those outraged by the news, to intervene in the actions of private companies – ministers very often do – as to do it in the company that has given you a mortgage on what appear to be very favorable terms. “The ministry’s press office did not respond to a question as to whether the minister disclosed his business relationship with BBBank before the video greeting was recorded,” wrote Der Spiegel.
Again this week, through his lawyer, Lindner assured that his private relationship with the bank began long before his tenure as Minister and that the high loan amounts were due to “the enormous fluctuations in the real estate market”. The politician allegedly had the house renovated at great expense after purchasing it. Recording a video greeting for a bank as a minister is not a crime, the lawyer added. Yes, it would be if prosecutors proved the loan was obtained in exchange for his services.
MPs in private files
In Germany it is not surprising that politicians appear in advertisements and give paid lectures. A study by the Otto-Brenner-Foundation of IG Metallurgie showed in 2021 that in the past legislative period (2017-2021) a third of the members of the Bundestag received a total of 53 million euros for this type of private activity. Namely, as an addition to their salary, which is currently 10,323 euros gross (plus 4,725 euros tax-free allowance) per month. The Christian Democrats and the Liberals were the ones who generated the most additional revenue during this period.
In the face of some calls for his resignation, especially from the left, the FDP MPs in parliament defended Lindner’s honor and fired on the Social Democrat-led government of the state city of Berlin, which the public prosecutor’s office has pointed out is dependent on him planning a case against the initiate ministers. They believe they acted with partisan interest to harm the FDP ahead of the elections in Berlin, which will be repeated on February 12, after the previous ones were canceled due to a series of irregularities.
This was announced by the public prosecutor’s office at the request of the Berlin daily mirror. After the news became known, the Vice President of his party, Wolfgang Kubicki, was outraged that such an investigation would be “a violation of Lindner’s rights”. This Friday, Der Spiegel reveals that he also asked the bank to give a presentation.
The German section of Transparency International, on the other hand, welcomes the fact that the public prosecutor’s office is carrying out a preliminary analysis of the case. “Loans of this magnitude are completely unaffordable for the average homeowner. Banks like BBBank in particular are known to be very reluctant, ”said their spokesman Wolfgang Jäckle to the public broadcaster RND. “The rule of law must take a critical look at a minister,” he added, calling for more transparency. At least the bank isn’t for the job: this week it removed the videos in which Lindner appeared from its website.
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