Matthias Hartmann and Burgtheater agree «DiePresse.com

Matthias Hartmann is able to mark the cause "Burgtheater" since this morning at least formally. In the morning, everyone involved met with their lawyers at the Labor Court and the Social Court to put an end to the pending trial through a judicial settlement. This document has been tinkered with for months in many secret negotiations.

If all participants abide by the recently concluded contract, then, with the exception of the next joint public statement, nothing should ever be made public, as they agreed on "the strictest silence". C & # 39; s:

"After the judgment of the criminal case against Matthias Hartmann, the Burgtheater GmbH and Matthias Hartmann a line as part of their dispute drawn. The investigations of the prosecutor for economic affairs and corruption revealed that against Matthias Hartmann in his previous artistic activity
Head of the Burgtheater in Vienna, there are no criminal charges. The parts so have accepted their mutual legal disputes termination and termination in March 2014 of dismissal
To convert the termination. With current knowledge, the parties would have acted differently. During the long investigation was born on both sides financial, temporal and personal burdens that both parties regret ".

The dismissal becomes a consensual dissolution

Confidentiality or not, the "press" could nevertheless know on which points Hartmann, the Burgtheater, but also PwC Austria, the former Burgtheater auditors, essentially agreed:

• The immediate dismissal of March 11, 2014 will be converted into a mutual termination of employment on August 31, 2014. The extension of his contract (Hartmann should have directed the house in a ring until 2019) is considered to be resolutely retroactive.
• "Hartmann should as far as possible enjoy the benefits paid in his favor" in the pension fund. In total, this is a hedge fund of 111,000 euros. The Burgtheater paid him all contributions to the pension fund until 31.8.2014.

• "With the conclusion of the settlement mutually, all the claims of the working relationship between Hartmann and the Burgtheater are thoroughly cleaned and compared, so that no side of the other has nothing to pay. " Hartmann receives nothing from Burgtheater and Burgtheater. But that does not mean that money is still flowing in their accounts. However, it's not her personally, but her insurance (it's one and the same insurance company) to open the box.

When Matthias Hartmann became director of the castle in September 2009, he was covered by the same liability insurance as any other director or member of the Burgtheater supervisory board. Thomas Drozda, Claus Bachler, Georg Springer, Silvia Stantejsky, Karin Bergmann, have all been received and insisted that such liability insurance be taken out with a large Austrian insurance company.

According to the contract, in case of litigation, it is condemned to the legal costs but also to the possible damages and interests of the insured persons, provided however that these do not act with a specific intention. After the Office of the Prosecutor for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) ended a few days ago the investigation against Hartmann, an agreement with the insurance company and a comprehensive judicial settlement were more of an obstacle. Because Hartmann and the Burgtheater are aware of it. A lengthy and costly procedure before the Labor and Social Affairs Tribunal, with many embarrbading investigations, would have been in anyone's best interest. And, of course, Hartmann has one thing: to finally be able to compete for a director position in a theater without having to pay more.

Smear on both sides

Economically, all made compromises and agreed in the middle to draw a line. That means:

• The liability insurance for Hartmann, Stantejsky and Springer executives pledges Burgtheater to pay 450,000 euros to the trust account of Burgtheater lawyer Bernhard Hainz. With this punctual payment, all claims of the Burgtheater and the exploitation "for any legal reason whatsoever" are compensated.
• On the other hand, the same company as the insurer of the castle must also transfer a sum to Hartmann, or 355,000 euros. And Hartmann will receive another 70,000 euros from Silvia Stantejsky, former commercial director of the castle. Hartmann must renounce all other claims. This means that all the material damage has been replaced by Hartmann, they say. The intangible would not be able to compensate anyway.

• But the Burgtheater receives another half a million euros from the liability insurance of former Burgtheater auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Austria. It was the audit firm that checked the Burgtheater's balance sheets for five years from the 2005/06 financial year and issued an unqualified audit report.