Checks and imbalances – sport

Armin Laschet could talk to Franz Reindl about how quickly you can slip from favorites to losers. Whereby: Laschet still has a minimal chance of becoming Federal Chancellor. Reindl’s option for the presidency of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is a thing of the past. Both got the short straw on the last weekend in September: Reindl, the President of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), one day before the federal election, in which Laschet and the Union had to accept a historic low in votes. The reason for Reindl’s defeat against Frenchman Luc Tardif was not a misplaced laugh in the flood area or a YouTube video à la Rezo that would have propagated the destruction of the DEB. But, as Reindl put it, “prohibited checks from behind”. Reindl meant the allegations from the state ice sports associations that have been in the room against him since June.

The list of allegations is long: it is about possible conflicts of interest as an honorary DEB President on the one hand and paid managing director of DEB GmbH on the other hand, about possible unauthorized use of advantages and the possibly too close relationship with the Swiss sports rights marketer Infront Sports & Media, which in turn violates the statutes the IIHF could violate. The ethics committee of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has now responded to relevant information. In a statement to the DEB Presidium and the state ice sports associations, which the SZ has submitted, the chairman Thomas de Maizière writes that the commission “urgently” advises that the matter “be examined comprehensively and independently in the DEB”. It must be clarified, according to the former Federal Minister of the Interior, “whether there is hidden funding for the president’s honorary function”.

For the first time the Spiegel and the Augsburg General At the beginning of June, Reindl reported on possible hidden income. Interestingly, while the World Cup was running in Latvia, and on the very day Reindl announced his candidacy for the IIHF presidency. Among other things, it was about a monthly salary of 7,500 euros, which Reindl received as managing director of DEB GmbH and which is said to have added up to 9,000 euros through additional and back payments. Reindl, 66, has been running the DEB subsidiary since 1993, which was primarily responsible for organizing the home world championships in 2001, 2010 and 2017. Well known, defended Reindl, President of the DEB since 2014. The activity as managing director of DEB GmbH was his job: “That’s how I earned my money. There was never a single cent for my work as president.”

Marketer Infront had a 50 percent stake in DEB GmbH – and thus financed Reindl’s salary

The regional associations of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein, however, sent a request for information to the DEB. The subject was, among other things, the role of Infront. Between 2013 and 2018, the Swiss held a 50 percent stake in DEB GmbH alongside DEB – and thus co-financed Reindl’s managing director’s salary. The regional associations wanted to have explained, among other things, how Reindl, as DEB president, could negotiate with business partner Infront and, at the same time, as managing director of DEB GmbH, could represent Infront’s interests vis-à-vis DEB without getting caught up in a conflict of interests.

In addition, Infront is said to have financially supported the deficit GmbH, which never paid a profit to the DEB, and saved it from bankruptcy – for example when Infront waived the repayment of a EUR 300,000 loan in 2018. For this, Infront had received the marketing rights to the national team exclusively at stable conditions for years, although the national team could have generated significantly higher income by hosting the 2017 home World Cup at the latest. The national team, you have to know, is basically the only area with which the DEB earns money by participating in World Championships and Olympic Games as well as the Germany Cup. Money that the regional associations need – especially after a year and a half of the pandemic – to train the next generation and lay the foundation for future generations of national players.

Back in June, Reindl said that “with rudimentary insider knowledge” and “partially misrepresented figures” a targeted attempt was made to “twist transparent and known business processes in order to damage the association and individual people”. Since the end of the contract on July 31, 2020, he has also carried out his work at DEB GmbH as “administrative manager” – in other words, on a voluntary basis. Reindl announced that the Presidium would still comply with the legitimate requests for information from three “rather smaller state ice sports associations” “within the scope of the information obligations”. At the same time, the DEB distributed a letter in which twelve of the 15 regional associations distanced themselves from the other three and declared their solidarity with Reindl.

Reindl defends himself under his leadership that the association has “consolidated itself in terms of sport, economy and organization”

Reindl’s reference to the “smaller associations” evidently understood them as disregard. According to SZ information, several regional associations are also said to have later withdrawn their declaration of solidarity. The transparency that Reindl always invoked did not exist. For example, contrary to what Reindl said, Infront’s contributions to DEB GmbH were not, or not fully, disclosed in general meetings. The extension of Reindl’s management contract, which was actually limited to 2018, until the end of July 2020 appears to the association’s internal critics like a kind of bridging allowance until Reindl’s possible retirement. This justified the continuation of the paid GmbH activity with the handling of the home World Cup 2017 and concepts for further World Cup applications.

Has the association suffered a financial disadvantage as a result of Reindl’s personal proximity to Infront? Infront President Philippe Blatter, a nephew of the former Fifa boss Sepp Blatter, was involved in the DEB general meeting in 2014 as an advocate for the presidential candidate Reindl, as was the then IIHF President René Fasel. The Swiss, who has now resigned his office after 27 years, never made a big secret of the fact that Reindl would be his ideal successor. This started with the slogan “Coordination and balance”, which sounds something like “Checks and Balances”, the system practiced in the USA to control the state separation of powers. In the IIHF election in September, however, Reindl failed in the fourth ballot with 39:67 votes, clearly against the Frenchman Luc Tardif, who was born in Canada.

It could also have played a role that Reindl, since 2016 member of the IIHF Council, the highest body of the world association, as the paid managing director of DEB GmbH, which was supported by Infront as the “controlling shareholder” until 2018, could have violated the IIHF statutes: The IIHF prohibits council members from paid employment with a commercial business partner. The IIHF and Infront are also cooperation partners; the current contract brings the world association a total of around 450 million euros by 2033 – negotiated by Franz Reindl, among others.

Reindl, who was still very popular as a favorite for the Fasel successor in May, sees himself wrongly in the pillory. Before the IIHF election congress he told the SZ that the DEB had “consolidated itself in terms of sport, economy and organization” under his leadership. The sporting upswing with Olympic silver in 2018, World Cup semi-finals in 2021 and moving up to fifth in the world rankings have earned German ice hockey a high international reputation. At the same time, the DEB offers the image of a split association. Members report that they are being pressured by the Bureau. The calls of several regional associations that German ice hockey was heading for a “tangible scandal” would have “certainly had a negative impact on the election,” said Reindl.

Open detailed view

It is questionable what consequences the allegations will have for Reindl and the DEB. Both Thomas de Maizière and Felix Rettenmaier, ombudsman at the DOSB, emphasize that the umbrella organization is fundamentally not responsible for the matter. According to de Maizière, the ethics committee sees “the clarification within the DEB structures as a necessary and important step”. For the internal evaluation of the association, “the question of the transparent disclosure and communication of the construction between the honorary president’s office and the subsidiary as well as the consideration of the will of the members of the DEB must be of importance”. This will “of course” happen, said the DEB.

Here, however, the cat bites its tail. In a confidential preliminary report to the Ethics Commission, which the SZ also has, lawyer Rettenmaier writes: The whistleblower had “credibly assured that there was no adequate contact person within the DEB who would follow up his information neutrally, transparently and within the framework of a fair process” . A “final assessment of a possible criminal liability of Mr. Reindl for breach of trust or corruption” is not possible without an “in-depth corporate law examination”. Nonetheless, there are “in some points sufficient indications for the existence of an abuse of the asset management obligation by Mr. Reindl”, so that there is “an initial suspicion (…) of a criminal offense”.

“There are no proceedings against the DEB, the Bureau or the President,” the DEB stated. Legal action had been taken against the whistleblower mentioned by the DOSB.