Ex-lawmaker convicted in Volkswagen corruption
Hans-Juergen Uhl, a former German lawmaker and labor leader at Volkswagen AG, was convicted by a German court after confessing that he used company money for prostitutes and lied to conceal his actions.
The local court of Wolfsburg found Uhl guilty of aiding breaches of fiduciary duty and using false affidavits in court proceedings. He was fined 39,200 euros ($52,000).
The trial was the second in a two-year probe into allegations Volkswagen managers approved the use of company funds to pay for extra bonuses, trips and prostitutes for labor leaders in exchange for favorable votes on policy.
``My conduct at the time is incomprehensible to me and contradicts all my personal values,'' Uhl, 55, told the court. ``I can only explain it by the general atmosphere at Volkswagen at the time. I simply lost my footing.''
Today's confession by Uhl, a former Volkswagen works council representative and Social Democratic member of Germany's lower house of parliament, brought the hearings to a swift end. The court had originally scheduled five days of hearings and summoned 13 witnesses, six of them prostitutes.
Taking Advantage
The court only heard one witness today, Klaus-Joachim Gebauer, a former manager who said he was responsible for arranging the payments. He explained how sex parties with prostitutes were organized in Hanover and that Uhl took part in them.
``The system made it difficult for you not to take advantage of what was offered,'' Judge Heiner Dickhuth told Uhl after delivering his verdict, saying the payment for prostitutes was the lesser offense. ``But using false sworn statements is a grave crime,'' he said.
The 39,200-euro penalty matched exactly what prosecutors asked for when they said Uhl betrayed the workers he represented and lied to keep his seat in parliament. Uhl's lawyer, Klaus- Ulrich Ventzke, had asked for a mild sentence. Members of the public attending the hearing complained the penalty was too light.
Uhl told the court earlier today that about 1,300 euros of Volkswagen funds were spent on prostitutes in Seoul and Barcelona in 2001. Uhl said he gave Volkswagen 5,000 euros to cover the damages the company suffered from his conduct.
Until 2006, Uhl served on Volkswagen's work council. He still has a part-time employment contract with Volkswagen. The company has temporarily suspended him from his duties but kept him on the payroll.
Resignation
Uhl was elected to parliament in 2002. Until two weeks before the trial, he had denied any wrongdoing. He had won several libel suits against media organizations after declaring in affidavits that the allegations against him were wrong. His lawyer said he is negotiating how to cover for the damages done to the news organizations. Uhl resigned from parliament on May 29.
Former Volkswagen Personnel Chief Peter Hartz received a two- year suspended sentence and a fine in the case on Jan. 25. He admitted approving bonuses to forge good relations with labor unions.
On Feb. 19, prosecutors brought charges against Gebauer and a former works council member. Their trial will probably start in the fall, Ingo Gross, a spokesman for the regional court of Braunschweig, said today.
(Published by Bloomberg, June 14, 2007)