Home Breaking The secret of the shadow man of the Gazprom Foundation in Schwerin...

The secret of the shadow man of the Gazprom Foundation in Schwerin has been revealed

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This personal information has been guarded like a state secret: The managing director of the “economic business operations” of the controversial Stiftung Klima- und Umweltschutz MV should complete the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 despite the threat of US sanctions. Now it is clear who has completed this task. It is the Hamburg management consultant Steffen Petersen. The Ministry of Justice of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania now officially announces the name of the 46-year-old WELT AM SONNTAG.

However, the revelation only came after massive pressure. The administrative court in Schwerin had ordered the Ministry of Justice to name him in a decision. The ministry failed in its attempt to avert this with a legal trick before the Higher Administrative Court. But only when the lawyer for this editorial office filed an application for enforcement did things start to move. Justice Minister Jacqueline Bernhardt (left) apparently feared that the bailiff would show up at her home and impose a fine.

Steffen Petersen, the foundation’s shadow man since February 2021, is a partner at the Hamburg-based business consultancy Cylad Consulting, for which he has been working since 2014. Previously, he worked for the Boston Consulting Group, among others. As the undercover managing director of the climate foundation, he managed millions of euros from the Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream 2 AG. He was involved when the foundation bought the special ship “Blue Ship” and acquired a 49 percent stake in the Rostock-based MAR Agency GmbH.

WELT AM SONNTAG had already received the tip in the middle of this week that Petersen could be the man from the climate foundation for the Baltic Sea pipeline. But Petersen did not want to be spoken to on the phone, he left a written request unanswered.

So far, the Justice Department had justified its blocking stance, among other things, that the person was at risk of being sanctioned by the USA if his name was mentioned. The law firm commissioned by the ministry argued before the court: “The potential effects are numerous and serious: starting with the Amazon order to the impossibility of making payments with a Visa card or PayPal, many serious impairments are conceivable, which those affected could experience by mentioning could threaten.”

This argument, however, did not convince several judges. The Higher Administrative Court of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ruled that the provision of information “does not represent an unreasonable burden for the person concerned”.

The court’s decision goes on to say: “The activity of the managing director does not take place in secret, but on the contrary is designed to appear externally in business life by stating his identity.” coming assessment”, according to which the name of such a person must be reported to the transparency register by December 31, 2022.

At the suggestion of Nord Stream 2, Petersen was appointed to the position by the foundation’s chairman, former Prime Minister Erwin Sellering (SPD). Like the Justice Department, Sellering initially refused to share the name. Nothing changed when the district court in Schwerin sentenced him to do so in a so-called default judgment of April 25. With this decision, the court corresponded to a complaint by WELT AM SONNTAG.

Now Sellering suddenly went for transparency. Shortly after the Ministry of Justice gave Petersen’s name to this editorial office, he also named him publicly. In fact, several legal proceedings initiated by this editorial team are pending against Sellering’s foundation because it has refused to provide information and is withholding files.

The state government of Prime Minister and Sellering’s successor Manuela Schwesig (SPD) is similarly hostile to the press. It is hardly possible to obtain information to which the public has a right without resorting to legal assistance. Next week, at the request of the “Jamaica” opposition from the CDU, FDP and Greens, the state parliament wants to set up a committee of inquiry into the climate foundation.