The money laundering allegations against the manager of the planned Rügen liquefied natural gas terminal are off the table. After examining a criminal complaint against the manager of Deutsche Regas, the Rostock public prosecutor’s office does not see sufficient initial suspicion. The initiation of criminal investigations had been rejected, said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office. The “Ostsee-Zeitung” had previously reported on it.
In addition, the Munich I Regional Court prohibited the lawyer Reiner Geulen, who was commissioned by the Baltic Sea resort of Binz, from several of his allegations against the operating company and its managing director Ingo Wagner. However, the decision is not yet final, as the court subsequently announced.
The legal battles are part of the bitter struggle between the community and the company. The municipality fears environmental damage and tourism losses, while Deutsche Regas wants to operate the terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) requested by the federal government. Geulen can also appeal against the decision of the public prosecutor’s office.
Accusation of lack of financial transparency
Before the Munich I District Court, the company defended itself against allegations of a lack of financial reliability and transparency, which Geulen had made public in a press release on July 21. The company achieved success in several respects.
The 26th Civil Chamber forbade the claim that investors in the energy sector had not yet made an appearance and that there was no business activity at Deutsche Regas’ headquarters in Bruchsal. In addition, Geulen can no longer claim that the managing director of Deutsche Regas transferred capital or “financial corporations” from the Cayman Islands to Germany.
However, the court declined to completely ban Geulen from accusing the LNG project of “non-transparent financing background”. However, the lawyer may no longer establish a connection with corporations in the Cayman Islands.
Regas speak of “fake fairy tales”
The Deutsche Regas supervisory board chief Stephan Knabe dismissed the allegations against Deutsche Regas on the sidelines of the hearing as a “tale of lies and campaign”. According to the decision, Regas has to pay one twelfth and the lawyer Geulen eleven twelfths of the procedural costs.
The allegations against Deutsche Regas in Binz have also caused a stir in Berlin, and the federal government wants to take a close look. “It must be ensured that the financing of the energy infrastructure is based on viable financing,” the Federal Ministry of Economics replied to a question from Essen CDU member of the Bundestag Matthias Hauer.
According to the letter signed by State Secretary Philipp Nimmermann, the federal government will carry out “detailed checks of the suitability and reliability of the possible contractual partner” as part of its due diligence obligations. “To the legally possible and necessary extent, this also includes examining the financial capacity and the origin of the funds.” “Stern” and “Business Insider” first reported on the letter.
