Regensburg (dpa / lby) – After the final conviction for extortion of party donations, his own party has now asked the Regensburg state parliament member Franz Rieger to resign his state parliament mandate. The SPD state leader Ronja Endres had previously made this demand.
“The CSU in the Regensburg constituency distances itself from the member of parliament Dr. Franz Rieger and calls on him to resign his mandate,” says a joint statement from representatives of seven local groups. They considered this step after the final conviction to be without alternative.
“The CSU in the city of Regensburg and in the communities of Wenzenbach, Lappersdorf and Pentling sees the fact that Franz Rieger has so far refused to give up his mandate, even though he now has a criminal record, as a burden on their political work,” the statement continued .
In November last year, the Regional Court of Regensburg found it proven that Rieger had blackmailed the board of directors of a real estate company. According to the court, Rieger had asked the entrepreneur to pay 50,000 euros in donations to the party. When the latter rejected this, Rieger pointed out the importance of politics for the designation of building areas and the granting of building permits in the region. Then he paid.
The Federal Court of Justice confirmed the Regensburg decision, which means that it is now final. Rieger then resigned from the CSU parliamentary group on Wednesday, but intends to continue exercising his mandate until the end of the legislative period. He thinks the verdict is wrong, he didn’t blackmail anyone.
A waiver would be voluntary. The law stipulates that an elected MP can only be removed from Parliament against his will if he has been sentenced to at least one year in prison for a crime. Rieger had received a fine of 120,000 euros.
