Corona activist Reiner Fuellmich is in custody because he is said to have embezzled 700,000 euros. His party “dieBasis” holds him and his former co-chair responsible for at least as much damage. “Mindfulness” is very important to the party “dieBasis,” which emerged from the anti-corona movement. “Mindfulness” is one of the four pillars of her program. The leadership also comments accordingly on what its former chairman Reiner Fuellmich is accused of: he is said to have embezzled 700,000 euros in donated funds. Fuellmich is therefore in custody. In view of the allegations, federal chairman Sven Lingreen speaks of the “presumption of innocence” and says that Fuellmich “as a basic member is of course still part of” the community, “which shows him great respect for the educational work in the Corona crisis.”Fuellmich had in 2020 Among other things, the so-called “Corona Committee” was founded with the lawyer Viviane Fischer. In hours-long live streams, they discussed Corona topics with supposed or real experts until the makers had a hopeless argument over how the generous donations would be used and finally reported Fuellmich for embezzlement. Lingreen’s co-chairwoman Skadi Helmert explains that in the spirit of “mindfulness for one another” it would have “made more sense (…) if the existing conflicts had not been clarified with complaints and arrests.” Problems with the 2021 annual report. However, “mindfulness” has There are also limits for the party in dealing with each other: From the perspective of the leadership, the dual leadership at the time, Fuellmich and Fischer, did not adequately fulfill their duties towards the party: This, according to the accusation, is now apparently costing “dieBasis” hundreds of thousands of euros. Internally, there is talk of a sum between 750,000 and 1.5 million euros. Accordingly, there are said to be errors in the annual report for 2021, which was to be prepared in 2022 – the year in which Fuellmich and Fischer were mostly at the top. As chairmen, both of them, together with the treasurers at the time, failed to meet the requirements for an accountability report to correctly ensure party financing, the party says. As part of party financing, the party is entitled to money from the state. It’s about 1.06 euros for each of the around 700,000 votes in the federal election and further government subsidies for membership fees and donations. But the state demands clean accounting in the annual reports. The Bundestag administration has examined the annual reports for 2021 from almost all of the smallest and small parties and has now published them. The “basic” report is missing from the public database. There are pictures of the then Berlin state treasurer Bernd Bremer happily in the city on December 30, 2022 in an office of the PM 3 “Party Financing, State Parliament” department of the Bundestag administration and receives the confirmation of receipt. “We did it,” they say. There had been great doubts about this before. The main thing is that something has been handed in. If you ask around in the party today, there was great concern among those involved at the time that the accountability report would not be completed on time under the leadership at the time. Only in a quick act and with a “tremendous team effort” on the initiative of the country representatives was the submission even possible on time. Even back then, it was apparently assumed that due to possible errors, only a portion of the amount that the party was actually entitled to would be paid. The idea was obviously: It would be better to get a partial amount than no money at all, because the Federal Executive Board couldn’t manage it. Namely the Federal Executive Board, which Viviane Fischer headed until an unsuccessful candidacy for re-election in April 2023 – and no longer at that time Pure Fuellmich. He resigned during a turbulent video conference on November 10, 2022. The dispute in the Corona Committee had long since reached “the basis”. Five board members, including the treasurer and her deputy, stood by Fuellmich and called for Fischer’s resignation. In vain. The treasurers and Fuellmich resigned one after the other. Fischer remained with a fragmented board. For the former chairwoman, this does not mean that those who left no longer had any responsibility: “In general, the resignation of a board member does not release him from the obligation to continue to carry out his office until it is replaced,” Fischer explained to t-online . But she also says: Since Fuellmich was not personally responsible for the annual report, his departure had no influence on the preparation of the report. And the resignation of the two treasurers who had been appointed made the finalization of the annual report more difficult. She says that new responsibilities were “immediately” determined by the board. Fischer: “Responsibility does not lie with individual members.” Fischer also refers to the party law, according to which the federal executive board of the party and the boards of all subdivisions are responsible for their accountability. “In this respect, responsibility lies with the party’s organs and not with individual members of the organs.” That means: The state executive boards of the base were just as responsible. “At the federal and state levels,” the work continued, “so that the deadline was ultimately met.” It was clear and aware to everyone that the annual report had to be prepared by the end of the year. The party says that this was only successful because the representatives of the regional associations finally took the initiative. There are no apparent misconducts by Fischer or Füllmich that the Bundestag administration could punish with fines. However, they are indirectly responsible for the errors in the hot-wired report. Whether the party is therefore demanding recourse from them and the treasurers or is filing a criminal complaint has not yet been legally assessed, according to an inquiry. The party hoped for and received 2.271 million euros. However, the payment was made “on the basis of the only provisional determination,” the Bundestag administration tells t-online. “Because the audit of the annual report has not yet been completed, only a provisional determination of state resources could be made for 2022.” Although many members of the party are open to conspiracy stories, at least the key figures do not see this as an attack by the “system”: The cooperation with the Bundestag administration is good and trusting, they say. It is already clear to the party that 360,000 euros have definitely been lost . 180,000 euros in party financing from the 2020 annual report were not correctly shown in the 2021 report – as a penalty, this costs twice the amount. The NPD made a similar mistake in its 2007 annual report when it understated income, primarily from state party financing, by 635,000 euros. This mistake among the “base” was the result of a lack of experience and would not be made again said Lingreen, chairman since April. In addition, there is a large discrepancy between what is stated as material expenditure in the annual report and what the Bundestag administration’s calculation shows. Various bookings are also controversial and the question is whether they are errors or just calculation errors such as incorrect formulas in Excel. According to an internal estimate by the base, the fines could add up to a minimum of 750,000 euros and a maximum of 1.5 million euros. Lingreen: “This money will be missing for political work throughout the party, as these grants should be distributed between the federal and state governments and distributed by the states to the associations directly on site.” The concern now is that it will not be possible to hold additional programmatic party conferences as planned and that the campaign for the EU elections will have to be slimmed down. This will be compensated for by the willingness to donate and the voluntary commitment of the members, says Lingreen. “But giving up is not an option.”
