The criminal proceedings for breach of trust against the former Odenwald District Administrator Dietrich Kübler (SPD) were dropped on Wednesday, the second day of the trial at the Darmstadt Regional Court, against a fine of 10,000 euros. The court, the public prosecutor's office and the defense agreed on this course of action, thus ending a process that had lasted more than five years. This saves the court ten days of trial and the subpoena of more than 30 witnesses. In 2017, Kübler was sentenced to seven months' imprisonment on probation and a fine of 25,000 euros in the first instance before the Michelstadt District Court.
The termination of the proceedings is not only a satisfaction for Kübler, who had said from the beginning that he had made the mistake of interfering in the awarding of contracts in favor of an advertising agency he knew.
He did not know that this could be criminally relevant.
On the other hand, the termination of the proceedings is a defeat for the district court in Michelstadt, because not only Kübler had appealed the verdict, but also the public prosecutor's office there, who had found the range of punishment to be too low.
“A Completely Wrong Procedure”
Judge Lothar Happel said in retrospect that at the time it was probably not clear in the district administration who represented the district's own regional company - Kübler as chairman of the supervisory board or its managing director. In some cases, the latter had completely withdrawn from the award procedure. Apparently, the EU procurement law was not properly understood in the Odenwald, according to Happel. Instead of the managing director, as would have been correct, the district committee had decided on the award of the advertising contracts. A completely wrong procedure for Happel, because if the regional company applies for subsidies, they also have to award the orders. Due to the breach of the award procedure, which also consisted in subsequently enabling the agency selected later to submit an offer price, WI-Bank,which awarded the grants, canceled 68,000 euros.
Public prosecutor Joachim Hauschild reported concerns about the termination of the proceedings. After all, the district suffered financial damage. But the delay in the proceedings of several years due to the overloading of the court was certainly a difficult time for the 71-year-old Kübler, which is why he also agreed to the termination of the proceedings. Kübler has to bear his own expenses in connection with the process himself, but otherwise the costs are borne by the state treasury.
However, the process is not yet complete with the setting.
The new managing director of the regional company has appealed to the administrative court against the reduction in the subsidy.
This procedure was suspended and will now be resumed after the procedure was discontinued by the regional court.
But Kübler has nothing more to do with that.
According to the public prosecutor's office, it is still unclear whether a then-close colleague of Kübler's was investigated for making false statements in the first trial.