In January 2010, German media reported that Christian Wulff, then Minister-President of Lower Saxony, had accepted a complimentary flight upgrade from Air Berlin for a family trip to Miami on September 15, 2009.
[2] In doing so, he violated ministerial laws of Lower Saxony, which prohibit members of state government from accepting gifts worth more than 10 Euro.
[4] Following this incident, the Green faction in Lower Saxony's state parliament began a parliamentary inquiry to find out more about business dealings between Wulff and Egon Geerkens, a local entrepreneur.
[7] Following rumors about possible favors obtained by Wulff in connection with the purchase of a house in early 2009,[8] the news magazine Der Spiegel contacted the local registry of deeds on December 14, 2010 to request access to his files.
[9] The request was denied on December 16, 2010, prompting Der Spiegel to call on the Higher Regional Court in Celle to overturn that decision.
[10] In an email sent to Wulff on November 28, 2011, the German tabloid Bild requested additional information concerning the details of the house purchase.
[12] On December 10, 2011, Bild contacted Wulff again by email and asked why he had not disclosed the loan contract with Edith Geerkens when responding to the parliamentary inquiry in February 2010 and whether he had tried to deceive the state parliament of Lower Saxony.
[11] On December 12, 2011, Bild reported the loan from Edith Geerkens to Wulff and raised the question whether he had misled Lower Saxony's State Parliament in February 2010.
[14] On December 15, 2011, Wulff issued a written statement reiterating that he did not have a business relationship with Mr. Geerkens and that he had correctly responded to the parliamentary inquiry.
[15][16] In an article published on December 16, 2011, Der Spiegel quoted Egon Geerkens as saying he had led the loan negotiations with Wulff.
[22] On December 21, 2011, Wulff's lawyer confirmed that Egon Geerkens was involved in the loan negotiations[23] and that he also participated in the prior search for a suitable property.
On March 21, 2010, these negotiations led to the signing of a "short-term, flexible-interest rate loan" which Wulff used to pay back Edith Geerkens.
[30] On December 31, 2011, Der Spiegel raised the question whether the conditions of Wulff's BW-Bank loan were somehow connected to his role in the takeover of Porsche by Volkswagen.
[33] Wulff, who was on a state visit to the Persian Gulf at the time, left an aggressive message on Diekmann's mailbox and threatened to take legal steps against the relevant journalists if Bild were to publish the article.
[31] Furthermore, Wulff also tried to intervene by calling Matthias Doepfner, CEO of Axel-Springer, the publishing house that owns Bild, and left a similarly aggressive message on his mailbox.
[43] Kai Diekmann rejected Wulff's characterization of his mailbox message and asked for the president's permission to make the recording public.
[50][51] On January 18, 2012 after a barrage of criticism from within Wulff's own party,[50] including Chancellor Merkel,[52] his lawyer released a total of 237 pages with question and answers related to the loan scandal and put it online.
[55][56] On January 16, 2012 the district attorney's office in Hanover declared that there was not yet an initial suspicion but that investigations were still ongoing - especially in light of Wulff's hotel upgrade paid for by Groenewold that had just become public.
For example, Wulff's then-spokesman Olaf Glaeseker had requested 44 students from the Hanover's Medical University as service personnel but had failed to pay the subsequent invoice sent by the state of Lower Saxony.
[64] Following media reports that the Wulff couple had benefited from exceptionally favorable conditions in connection with the leasing of an Audi Q3, the district attorney's office in Berlin began an investigation into potential favoritism.
[67][68] As David Groenwold had previously received credit guarantees from Lower Saxony worth several million Euro, German media reported on February 9, 2012 that the district attorney's office in Hanover had started an investigation into potential favoritism charges in connection with the Sylt vacation.
[69] On February 16 the district attorney's office in Hanover requested the lifting of Wulff's presidential immunity due to well-founded initial suspicions of favoritism and unethical behavior.
[72][73][74][75] Explaining his resignation, Wulff stated that "(the German people's) trust and thus his effectiveness have been seriously damaged" and that "for this reason it is no longer possible for him to exercise the office of president at home and abroad as required.
[80] On March 1, 2012, the district attorney searched David Groenewold's home and offices with his permission and seized a large volume of documents and data.
[82] On June 1, it became known that the district attorney's office in Berlin had closed its probe into allegations that Wulff had engaged in unethical behavior in connection with, among other things, the leasing of an Audi Q3.
According to the district attorney leading the investigation, Wulff found himself in a permanently strained financial situation with a bank account that was at times more than 80,000 in the red.
[93] On August 27, 2013, the Hanover regional court announced that it would try Wulff on accepting unfair advantages,[94] after downgrading the initial corruption charges.