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Berlin (dpa / bb) - In the Berlin House of Representatives, an investigative committee will soon be examining controversial property purchases by the state.
Parliament set up the committee requested by the CDU and FDP on Thursday.
Specifically, it should be about the background to the right of first refusal that the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district exercised in 2019 for around half a dozen residential buildings in favor of the cooperative «Die eG».
Because the financing of the cooperative was on shaky ground at the time, the public sector was exposed to considerable liability risks and one of the house deals failed.
At the center of the criticism is the responsible building councilor for the district, Florian Schmidt (Greens).
The Berlin Court of Auditors criticized his approach as "improperly exercising pre-emptive rights".
The economic situation of the cooperative and the financing were not adequately checked and legal requirements were disregarded.
After a complaint, the public prosecutor's office investigated Schmidt for budget infidelity, but recently closed the case.
Schmidt himself rejected the accusation as "completely unfounded".
In so-called milieu protection areas to maintain the social structure, the Berlin districts have a right of first refusal if an owner sells a residential building.
As a rule, municipal housing associations take over the buildings.
For some time now, cooperatives have also been allowed to do this.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210128-99-213527 / 2