In 2018, the then Innogy manager Bernhard Günther fell victim to an acid attack not far from his house. In fact, a 42-year-old Belgian is said to be involved. In court, the man denied any guilt.
In the trial of the acid attack on former Innogy manager Bernhard Günther in Haan near Düsseldorf, the accused protested his innocence. “My DNA was misused,” said the 42-year-old Belgian in the Wuppertal district court. His DNA was found in a glove found at the crime scene. “I’m involved in something I haven’t done. I’ve never been to Haan, I don’t know the man, I’ve never met him in my life,” he said.
Günther, then CFO of the RWE subsidiary Innogy, was attacked by two masked figures around 200 meters from his front door in a green area in March 2018 and showered with highly concentrated sulfuric acid. Günther was taken to a special clinic with severe chemical burns, at times his life was in danger.
At the time of the crime he was lying in bed and asleep, later he was in a café and watched football. “I’m 100 percent sure about that,” the accused assured. He very often wore gloves, for example when he worked on cars and also in a brothel, where he helped out from time to time. His car was broken into in front of this brothel on the Lower Rhine. He doesn’t know exactly what was stolen from it. If convicted, the accused faces between three and 15 years in prison for intentionally causing serious bodily harm.
After the attack, Innogy offered a reward of 100,000 euros. In an interview, Günther had shown himself to be convinced that the motive behind the crime was in the “professional environment”. He has a concrete suspicion, but will not name a name. A few days after the attack on Günther, it became known that the RWE subsidiary Innogy was to be broken up and parts taken over by competitor Eon.
