Court exonerates NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach in the dispute over judgeships

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Green Party politician Limbach: “No reliable evidence”

Photo: Oliver Berg/dpa

One of the top jobs in the North Rhine-Westphalian judiciary can be filled by the applicant who was designated for it by the responsible state minister Benjamin Limbach.

It's about the presidential position at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster (OVG).

The OVG had to deal with the appointment of its own top management and has now announced its decision.

She had been expected for weeks.

A president has been sought for the Higher Administrative Court for some time.

In this context, the Green politician Limbach is said to have tried to use unfair means to get his favorite for the position into office - this was the accusation made by the opposition in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament.

Limbach and the woman, a ministerial director in the Interior Ministry, know each other and are on first name terms.

It was said that the minister had urged two other applicants in personal discussions to abandon their career plans.

Complaints filed

Several courts had already dealt with the case and the filling of the OVG position had been stopped.

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia had lodged complaints against the decisions of these courts with the OVG, which therefore had to deal with the matter.

Limbach has always rejected the accusation of nepotism and influence peddling, but in the meantime he was threatened with a parliamentary investigative committee in the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament.

The complaints from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia were now successful.

According to the court's statement, the selection decision in favor of Limbach's favorite for the OVG position does not violate the other applicants' application process requirements under the Basic Law.

There is “no reliable evidence” to support the assumption that the Minister of Justice manipulated the selection process.

There is no objection to the fact that Limbach held discussions with the other applicants during the selection process.

There was “no prior determination” from him in this regard.

The OVG also announces that the decisions are “incontestable”.

This means that the affair surrounding the judgeship for Limbach is probably over.

le/tgk