Utz Claassen was once considered a model manager in the German industrial landscape. The now 61-year-old from Lower Saxony had earned this reputation as a successful reorganizer of the VW subsidiary Seat and later at the head of ENBW. But with his early exit from the energy company in 2007, which was accompanied by criminal proceedings for granting advantages, his career also took some less illustrious turns. In recent years, public perception has been more influenced by the court antics surrounding him than by his entrepreneurial successes. Since this spring, Claassen has been in the sights of the judiciary and bailiffs because of Syntellix AG from Hanover, which he co-founded in 2008. From 2021 onwards, Syntellix is said to have no longer paid employees’ salaries on time and in some cases for months at a time. After several criminal complaints, the Hanover public prosecutor’s office began the investigation. Disappointed former employees had to sue in court for back pay of up to five figures. Regional court lifts arrest warrant. At the beginning of this week it was clear: In the dispute over salaries and an alleged delay in insolvency at the medical technology company, company boss Claassen is no longer confronted with several arrest warrants from the Hanover district court. With a decision of August 12th, a civil chamber at the Hanover Regional Court revoked the executive arrest warrant (case number: 18 T 45/24). The district court felt compelled to take this step in April 2024 because Claassen, as CEO of Syntellix, had filed a claim due to the outstanding claim Should have provided financial information. According to the district court’s decision at the time, Claassen, who according to media reports is in Southeast Asia, “stayed away without excuse” from this appointment. Claassen had previously had a foreign doctor confirm that he was unfit to fly for health reasons. He was not able to attend the appointment to submit the asset information.More on the subjectThe court was of the opinion that the certificates submitted did not meet the legal requirements; In particular, neither a concrete description of his state of health nor a reason was given why transport by plane should not be possible. Claassen lodged immediate complaints through his German lawyers – but these were only successful before the regional court. The civil chamber saw him as “sufficiently excused” by the medical certificate. The bailiff had exceeded the requirements for proof. Sharp criticism of the judiciary “The arrest warrants issued against me were baseless and illegal,” Claassen was quoted as saying in a statement on Wednesday evening. The former top manager claimed the authority to interpret the matter and sharply criticized the judiciary in Hanover. “What I had to experience in the last four months was global character assassination, which a state court encouraged through untenable decisions and declarations.” But the dispute with his former employees is far from over: According to information from the Hanover Labor Court on Thursday There are currently legally binding decisions in 19 lawsuits against Syntellix. A judicial employee said upon request that two further proceedings are currently pending.
Go to Source