The state parliament’s committee of inquiry into the judges’ affair has begun questioning witnesses. As the first witness, a department head in the Ministry of Justice said that the process in question – the filling of the presidential position at the Higher Administrative Court – had not been a spectacular event for him for a long time. Therefore, he must ask for understanding for any memory gaps.
There was no attempt to influence him in the matter, said the ministry official. It was never brought to his attention that the Greens really wanted a woman in this position. On the contrary, Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) asked him to examine the process with an open mind. When a woman’s application for the position was received, her gender was not an issue.
The head of department who had to compare the applicants’ assessments made a similar statement: There was no attempt to influence them. Comparing the applicants for a top selection was very complex because several had top grades and a similar profile. In some cases she was in uncharted legal territory. She remains convinced that her appointment notice was legal, apart from one formality.
The investigative committee wants to examine whether nepotism and party membership were the decisive factor in filling the position of president of the Higher Administrative Court or the competence of the applicants.
Affidavits
There are now two affidavits in the matter from a federal judge and one from NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens), as a spokesman for the NRW Justice Minister confirmed. These contradict each other in at least two points, as the German Press Agency was able to find out. The “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” and the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” had previously reported on the contradictions.
NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) has two statutory declarations. (Archive image) Photo: Christoph Reichwein/dpa
While the federal judge states in his more recent statement that Limbach recommended that he have a conversation with the head of the State Chancellery, Nathanael Liminski (CDU), Limbach writes in his statement that, on the contrary, the federal judge asked him whether he would like to have a conversation with the head of the state chancellery on the matter could lead the State Chancellery.
The second contradiction consists in the reproduction of a conversation from November 11, 2022. According to the federal judge, the aim of the conversation was to persuade him to withdraw his application. According to Limbach, he told the federal judge that, given the high-caliber field of applicants, he would have to decide for himself whether to maintain his application. Nobody will be angry with him if he does that. Affidavits are punishable by law.
“Nothing remains of the opposition’s allegations today,” said chairmen Gregor Golland (CDU) and Dagmar Hanses (Greens). The allegations by the SPD and FDP that the process was influenced in favor of a particular applicant have once again proven to be unfounded.
Before the meeting, SPD chairwoman Nadja Lüders criticized the fact that almost 20,000 pages of evidence had only been sent from the Ministry of Justice three and a half working days before the interrogation. The personal files of the candidates for the presidential position were still missing.
The investigative committee wants to examine whether nepotism and party membership were the decisive factor in filling the position. Photo: Thomas Banneyer/dpa
Was there nepotism or party bookkeeping?
Two administrative courts had stopped the appointment process. The one in Münster expressed sharp criticism and wrote about manipulative procedural design.
As a second instance, the Higher Administrative Court then had no objections to the personnel decision on its own behalf. The Federal Constitutional Court then partially overturned and remanded the OVG decision. The constitutional judges in Karlsruhe saw evidence of a preliminary determination, which had not been sufficiently investigated.
The state government’s contract was awarded to an applicant who had joined the process late and was a first-name acquaintance and former colleague of Justice Minister Limbach.
The woman, who like the federal judge is said to belong to the CDU, expressed her interest at a private dinner with the minister and ultimately received the state government’s approval. The losing federal judge, however, went to court.
He had also sworn that he had received a call from the general counsel of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. In the phone call he asked him to withdraw his application. Coalition circles in Düsseldorf had agreed on the woman.