After the dismissal of the BSI boss Arne Schönbohm, his lawyer now expresses himself. He speaks of “political motives”.
After Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser dismissed the President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Arne Schönbohm, his lawyer now raises serious allegations against the minister.
Lawyer Christian Winterhoff told Business Insider magazine that he had the impression that the Federal Ministry of the Interior was primarily concerned with releasing Schönbohm from his position as President of the BSI. Apparently, “primarily political motives were decisive,” he said, “for which legal justifications were subsequently sought.”
Since Schönbohm was not a political official “who can be recalled without giving reasons simply because of a lack of trust,” Winterhoff continued, “the ministry relied on the allegations made against Mr. Schönbohm in the ZDF program ‘Magazine Royale'”. And that despite the fact that these had already been refuted in December 2022 by extensive statements by Schönbohm. However, the ministry did not oppose this in terms of content.
No disciplinary proceedings initiated
He expressed doubts to “Business Insider” that sufficient consideration had been given to whether a dismissal was justified. Winterhoff sees contradictions in the representation from ministry circles, according to which the initiation of disciplinary proceedings was unnecessary because Schönbohm was transferred to the Federal Academy for Public Administration at the beginning of the year.
He was informed at the time that the investigation was still ongoing and had not been completed. “Only after I again asked the ministry in a letter dated April 6, 2023 to complete the preliminary investigations immediately, was I formally informed in a letter dated April 24, 2023 that all the allegations made against my client had not been true,” said Winterhoff now the “Business Insider”.
