Report of the Anti-Corruption Officer of the City of Jena is available

The report of the Anti-Corruption Officer of the City of Jena for the years 2023 and 2024 is available and will be presented to the City Council at its meeting on February 26, 2025. Dr. Susan Volkmann-Schwind has held this function of Anti-Corruption Officer for the City of Jena since February 2024.

The dominant topic during this period was suspected corruption in a municipally controlled company. Dr. Volkmann-Schwind was informed of this suspicion on the day of her appointment. As already reported, this was followed by a criminal complaint and a search of the business and private premises of those involved by the public prosecutor's office in Erfurt. The city of Jena, as the main shareholder of the company, immediately parted company with the managing director. Several legal proceedings are still pending.

Hospitality gifts: examination of individual cases

In individual cases, Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche had to decide on the acceptance of gifts from guests. In several cases, he approved the acceptance of so-called guest packages by municipal employees.

In individual cases, employees received money or gifts of monetary value from citizens as thanks. These were returned to the respective donors with the note that money or gifts with a value of more than ten euros may not be accepted.

One particular case was a disused fire alarm system that had been decommissioned by a company but could have been used by the fire department as part of its training. As the compliance regulations on both sides were against this, the donation was not made.

Sponsorship in an appropriate relationship

The Legal department manages several sponsorship and donation agreements (for example for the City Carrée pigeon house). According to the report, care was always taken to ensure that performance and consideration were in an appropriate relationship to one another and that all requirements were met.

No corruption in the area of public procurement

As in previous reporting periods, no cases of corruption were identified in the area of public procurement. An important measure here is that all contracts with a contract value of more than 15,000 euros for supplies and services and more than 25,000 euros for construction services must be submitted to the procurement commission. In addition, all contract awards are subject to the dual control principle. The procurement process - from the announcement to the award of the contract - has also been handled transparently using e-tendering since June 2020.

Prevention is the best way to fight corruption

"The best way to fight corruption is prevention," emphasizes Lord Mayor Thomas Nitzsche. "I am very pleased that we have started a very good process here with our anti-corruption officer. Preventing corruption is part of every manager's job, which is why we have been organizing departmental training courses for managers since October 2024." Employees in areas at risk of corruption also receive special training.

Reporting channels for suspected cases

Citizens and employees can report suspected cases via the city's website:

The contact details of the anti-corruption officer and the ombudsman can also be found here. Since October 2023, there has also been an internal, digital reporting office that employees can use to anonymously report suspected breaches of rules of conduct and regulations as well as criminal offenses in connection with their work.

Background information

The last report by the then Anti-Corruption Officer was presented in 2023 for the period 2015 to 2022. According to a City Council resolution from 2013, the Anti-Corruption Officer is to report regularly.