The planned deportation center at BER airport is not “only” about more deportations and more deportation detention, but also about a lot of money: the state of Brandenburg has budgeted several hundred million euros for rent and leasing alone. An investor will build the detention center, and the state will be the tenant. Although so much money is at stake, the construction contract was awarded without a public tender. New investigations by the research platform Frag den Staat in cooperation with the Tagesspiegel newspaper point to numerous inconsistencies in public procurement law.
5 facts about the deportation investor Harder and the “award procedure”:
- The deportation investor Harder has a criminal record for a bribery case. His business model is to build commercial properties throughout Germany, but not sell them, instead renting them out on a long-term basis.
- Although hundreds of millions of euros are at stake, the construction contract for the deportation center was awarded without a public tender. Shortly after the first plans for a detention center near the airport were made, Harder bought part of the land on which the project would be built, and later secured an option to buy more land. To this day, however, Harder does not own all of the land.
- In order to circumvent the legally required tender procedure, the state of Brandenburg argues with an old legal opinion. This is from 2018 and does not even reflect the current planning status! Transparency International also believes that the planned expansion of the deportation center should have led to a review. This is because such expensive projects without competition and transparency increase the risk of corruption.
- Due to inconsistencies in public procurement law and the resulting concerns, the federal government has partially backtracked from its original plans. The “Rückführungsgebäude”, the building for handling deportations under the aegis of the Federal Police, is no longer part of the deportation center, but is to be built elsewhere. In spite of this Brandenburg continues to hold on to the deportation investor.
- The published documents show that Brandenburg is tied to the investor for 25 years – even the federal police speak of a “gag agreement” (“Knebelungsvertrag”) with regard to the planned lease period.
What does this mean for the detention center? What does it mean for us? The investigations by Frag den Staat and Tagesspiegel are part of a series of inconsistencies surrounding the planned deportation center at BER airport! Unfortunately, this does not mean that the deportation center will not be built at BER airport. The federal government wants to build the “Rückführungsgebäude” (deportation building) separately, while the other buildings of the deportation center will be built as planned with the deportation investor Harder. Refugees are already being detained at BER airport today, subjected to accelerated asylum procedures that are questionable in terms of the rule of law, and deported. For us it’s clear: No deportation prison at BER – with or without Harder!
Learn more here:
https://fragdenstaat.de/blog/2024/07/03/der-flughafen-aller-probleme/
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/potsdam/brandenburg/sperrfrist-frei-ab-16-uhr-ber-abschiebezentrum-neue-ungereimtheiten-bei-315-millionen-projekt-11940032.html