History of Europe

1994:Software scandal in Schwerin

The first agreements with Siemens-Nixdorf were signed in August 1994. (Scene with copies of the original documents recreated from filmed material NDR)

In the summer of 1994, a scandal began in Schwerin that would cause a stir in the state capital for many years to come. In the center:the new financial software KoFi (municipal financial system) from Siemens-Nixdorf. The old system had reached its limits. Schwerin's executives came to the conclusion that a new program was needed. The hope:more income, less staff.

Million hole instead of additional income

But this hope quickly turned out to be deceptive. In the end, the city had a million-dollar hole in its coffers. Because those responsible failed to secure themselves in the contract. The city was at risk. The software was state-of-the-art, but not practical. "Social assistance could not be paid. It was problematic to levy taxes and levies. And you had to seriously ask yourself what agreement the city had reached there?" says Hartwig Wischendorf. The former IT manager in an industrial company spends his free time studying Schwerin's post-reunification scandals. He meticulously documented the KoFi scandal in a guest article for Nordmagazin and NDR.de.

Politicians in turmoil

KoFi was introduced in the 1995 financial year. But by the end of the year, the city had to hire and pay for an external KoFi manager due to the significant deficiencies. The additional costs piled up. Head of the main office, Klaus Afflerbach, had to leave in 1996, not without being paid 175,000 DM. For the then Mayor Johannes Kwasik (SPD), KoFi became a fight for political survival. Because the decision was made behind the backs of the city officials. However, they subsequently narrowly voted to continue with KoFi. That saved Kwasik the office. But later he still had to answer in court - because of the severance payment for Afflerbach. The proceedings ended with the lord mayor being acquitted.

Sustainable damage

After all, KoFi managed to improve over the years. But by then the problem program had already caused a lot of damage:tax assessment notices threatened to become statute-barred, more than 30,000 dunning notices were sent out on suspicion, seven computer runs for the 1997 annual financial statements brought seven different results. In the city administration, one crisis meeting followed the next. The people of Schwerin were angry. Insiders estimate the total material damage caused by KoFi at around ten million DM. But Schwerin's image was also damaged:ZDF made the waste of tax money the subject of a live broadcast from the state capital.

Learned - to some extent

At the time, Timo Weber was the local editor of the "Schweriner Volkszeitung". Today, Weber certifies that the city has learned something new:"The administration has done a lot in the past few years. Now they have understood - to some extent - that they are a service provider for the citizen," says Weber in the Nordmagazin.