Five minutes is not too long a warning period, especially when all parties are on shaky ground. But at least: five minutes should have been enough to skim the information that the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) had sent in advance to its members on Thursday evening before it sent it to the press shortly afterwards. Subject: “Media coverage of the DEB / Current situation, independent clarification”. The DEB, it says, has commissioned the Cologne law firm Verte Rechtsanwälte to “independently clarify” the allegations against DEB President Franz Reindl that have been in the room for months. In addition, the DEB go against the “media law” Spiegel before. At the beginning of June, during the ongoing World Cup in Latvia, the magazine was the first to report on a possible conflict of interests Reindl, who has been honorary president of the DEB since 2014, but also worked as the paid managing director of DEB GmbH, a DEB subsidiary, from 1994 to 2020. in which the association and the Swiss marketer Infront each took a 50 percent share. Reindl could possibly have received covert payments from Infront and no longer acted independently for the benefit of the association, this is one of the allegations.
At the beginning of June, Reindl announced his application to chair the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF. One day before the IIHF election on September 25th the Spiegel again reported on Reindl’s allegedly questionable management and association management. “The DEB Presidium rejects all allegations as unfounded,” the association announced on Thursday, two days after a Presidium meeting.
The DEB also wants to take legal action against the chairman of the Schleswig-Holstein state ice sports association, Wolff-Dietrich Prager. On the night before the IIHF elections, Prager had influenced delegates “in an unfair and intolerable manner” and “damaged Mr. Reindl and the entire German ice hockey team” with unjustified discrediting words. Reindl had surprisingly clearly failed in the election because of the Frenchman Luc Tardif and then complained about “prohibited checks from behind”.
It urgently needs to be clarified “whether there is hidden funding for the president,” says the DOSB’s ethics committee
The ethics committee of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), chaired by the former Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière, issued a statement following indications from the state associations that Reindl’s misconduct might be criminally relevant. De Maizière wrote that the commission was not fundamentally competent. However, he advised “urgently” to have the matter examined comprehensively and independently. DOSB ombudsman Felix Rettenmaier had also emphasized in a report for the commission that the DOSB was not responsible. The whistleblower had “credibly assured” that he could not find an adequate contact person within the DEB who would follow up his reports “neutrally, transparently and within the framework of a fair procedure”. It must be clarified “whether there is hidden funding for the honorary function of the president,” demanded de Maizière.
The introduction to Thursday’s letter to the DEB members shows how shaken the trust between the Presidium and parts of the regional associations must be: “We very much regret that unacceptable statements by a few people as well as the passing through of information are currently partially against the public the facts paint an inaccurate and prejudicial picture of the DEB and our President Franz Reindl. ” In the communication itself it says: “In the entire campaign, unfortunately, the significant sporting, organizational and especially economic development of the DEB and ice hockey in the seven-year term of office of this presidium and the extremely friendly dealings with almost all of the 102 members go under.” (Members in this sense are the clubs of the German Ice Hockey League, the DEL2, the Women’s Bundesliga, the junior leagues and divisions organized by the DEB and the regional associations; editor’s note). The statement ends with a declaration of war: “The DEB refuses to counter false claims and prejudices and will take all legal measures to protect the DEB, its officials and employees.” The “investigations” are headed by Christian Schmitz, specialist lawyer for commercial and tax criminal law.
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
