Investigations against Steffen Krach: Donation for unsuccessful influence?

When Steffen Krach commented on the current allegations on the sidelines of an election campaign event in Berlin on Wednesday evening, he was visibly shaken. Apparently, at this point in time, the SPD's top candidate is not yet entirely clear about what he is actually being accused of. He admits that there was a donation from Hanover, just under 10,000 euros, the limit for the publication requirement. But he immediately rejected her, says Krach. So much ado about nothing?

The history in Hanover is somewhat complicated and opaque. As regional president - a kind of district administrator with a lot of power - Krach was also on the supervisory board of the hospital association (KRH), which brought together nine municipal hospitals.

One of these hospitals had to close after long, heated debates: the hospital in Lehrte. In its place, a regional health center should be built - a kind of polyclinic, half outpatient, half inpatient with various specialists, a few beds, shared medical facilities such as a laboratory and operating room. And all around, on the other site of the old clinic, there is a “health campus” with further offerings, including nursing. At the end of 2025, there was initially a so-called expression of interest process and then a bidding process directed by the KRH and the city of Lehrte.

Insiders report that people were surprised that Krach spoke out so vehemently in favor of G&W Vermögensverwaltung's offer. The group of companies belongs to a businessman who has been working as a care entrepreneur in Burgdorf near Hanover for almost 20 years.

It maintains several nursing homes, an outpatient nursing service and a nursing school for foreign skilled workers. He is also involved in the local real estate industry with various subsidiaries. However, in recent years he has also attracted attention with various grandiose announcements that ultimately came to nothing. For example, he wanted to get into the hydrogen business and refuel the regional buses, also a subsidiary of the Hanover region.

In the past, he also liked to tell the local press that he preferred to run his more than ten companies - which, according to him at the time, also included a software company in India and production facilities in Poland - from home and that he didn't need an office or a secretary.

This is probably why some people didn't trust him to undertake such a politically highly sensitive project. Krach, however, emphasizes that he found the concept convincing. Especially because it included cooperation with the Wahrendorff clinics, which were supposed to provide psychiatric care on site, a higher investment volume and guarantees for the regional health center.

At the time, G&W complained that the process was biased and that it was clear from the outset that the Hahne Group from Garbsen should win the contract. In fact, Krach's favored concept ultimately lost. However, G&W withdrew complaints against the procurement process when the entrepreneur himself received an advertisement.

According to an earlier report in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, the KRH had filed a complaint because G&W had significantly improved its offer at a very late stage in the process. This led to the suspicion that the bidder had access to internal information.

As part of these corruption investigations, the entrepreneur's private and business premises were searched in May 2026. It is now speculated that the evaluation of the data carriers confiscated at the time may have revealed evidence of noise. Krach explains that there was never any personal contact or direct communication. However, the Hanover public prosecutor's office continues to keep a low profile for “tactical reasons” and does not provide any information about the allegations or the status of the proceedings.

Even if the timing of the search ten days before the Berlin election seems extremely sensitive, the defensive reflex that the procedure was “politically motivated” does not hold water in this case. The Justice Minister of Lower Saxony is from the SPD and the Hanover public prosecutor's office is also considered to be SPD-dominated. There had just been a massive conflict over the replacement of the management.

The CDU opposition had accused the red-green state government of wanting to push through an SPD man - even though he had worked in the Ministry of Culture in recent years and did not have enough experience to head Lower Saxony's largest public prosecutor's office.