The near future of the „Gorch Fock“ currently depends on the companies that are responsible for the repair. After the main contractor Elsflether Werft filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday with the district court Nordenham, the creditors of the shipyard have to agree on how it should proceed with the currently dormant work on the sailing training ship.
According to information from this newspaper, the Ministry of Defense is still prepared to at least make the ship buoyant. It is said, however, that it will not settle already paid bills again. This situation could have arisen because it appears that millions of dollars that the ministry has paid to the shipyard have not been passed on to subcontractors for their work. The speech is about 23 million euros. It is still unclear where exactly the money remained.
The company’s former management team, which was also a foundation, had formed around two dozen other companies or foundations since early 2016, including real estate, travel and film. An investment in a gold mine in Mongolia should also be included. Millions have apparently been transferred to these constructs, including parts of the corporate reserves and the money for the Gorch Fock refurbishment.
Von der Leyen called the new bosses „constructive and professional“
It is unclear whether the costs of the repairs were fraudulently calculated as they are currently indicated and whether the so-called loans to a marine arsenal auditor have anything to do with it. It is also uncertain whether there are no other participants in the proceedings. It is clear, anyway, that the nebulous ministerial tidings received from the Leyen from her house did not make it easier to see through what condition the shipyard was at the same time.
After the dismissal of the former management, which denies any criminal action, an emergency board had been called. He seems committed to taking care of the needs of the shipyard and the employees. Visits to the Ministry of Defense, most recently last Tuesday, gave the impression of wanting to trust the new management. Von der Leyen called the new bosses „constructive and professional“.
The current board informed the ministry about two things: First, you have to file for bankruptcy because there is simply not enough money left to pay the subcontractors. It is hoped, however, that the insolvency can be carried out on its own, so that the company and its exploitable possession will not be eviscerated, but the operation can be continued under supervision.
For the Ministry of Defense as the largest customer, this means that further payments will be made only for new and actual work and will not be used for older shipyard obligations. That was reached on Wednesday at the insolvency judge in Nordenham. The provisional insolvency administrator Tobias Brinkmann said, according to the Nordsee-Zeitung, he hopes „that we can hopefully keep the client in a last-minute maneuver and hopefully provide a future for the employees.“
The Minister of Defense has support in Parliament
In addition, management has reportedly succeeded in acquiring the entire construct of the sub-companies for a symbolic amount. This may be important for further investigations, because now there is access to the accounting of these companies. However, one can not promise too much of the information: The yard itself has been the tax office information for years remained. The repair of the ship had initially been estimated at 9.6 million euros, but then increased because of more and more defect reports on currently at the 130 million euros.
The Court of Auditors had criticized in a report both the handling of the Navy and the Ministry of Defense sharply. Without a thorough performance audit, using over-plausible or incomplete information, the Department of Defense had twice led Minister von der Leyen to sign the cost increases at just € 70 million and then € 128 million. A suspected case of corruption in the naval arsenal prompted Leyen to stop paying in December. Subsequent investigations revealed further events in and around the shipyard, which became involved in inheritance disputes following the death of the former owner.
