Ex-manager accuses the Springer board of knowing about “slush funds”.

Berlin Markus Günther does not want to go under quietly. The main defendant, once the head of logistics at the Axel Springer publishing house, left no doubts about that when he first appeared before the Berlin district court. As part of a far-reaching admission of guilt, Günther accused his former boss, Rudolf Knepper, who had been a member of the Springer board for many years and later became a member of the supervisory board, of having known about “slush funds” in Günther’s logistics department and having benefited from them.

Springer boss Mathias Döpfner and other executives would also have benefited from a sham accounting system orchestrated by Günther. According to Günther, about “daily” delivery tours with fresh newspapers from Germany to a holiday home near Marseille were financed by Döpfner. It was also about tickets for the 2006 World Cup for board members or the transport of exclusive vintage cars. Günther claims to have found the slush funds as a manager in Springer’s logistics as early as 2003 and only to have developed them further. He did not present concrete evidence on Tuesday.