We already reported on the scandals and intrigues of the Green Minister of Justice in North Rhine-Westphalia at the beginning of October. Benjamin Limbach has been the subject of criticism for some time, above all because he actively interfered in the cum-ex investigations against gangster Chancellor Scholz and his entourage and pulled out all the stops to disorganize the responsible department of the public prosecutor's office in Cologne. This interference in the judiciary and its investigations in the Cum-Ex case even went so far that Limbach personally has for months repeatedly failed to forward data and files originating from the close environment of gangster Chancellor Scholz to the Cum-Ex Investigation Committee in Hamburg. These accusations are no coincidence, but were brought to light by the Cologne senior public prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Anne Brorhilker herself.

In addition to Limbach's interference in the context of the cum-ex proceedings, he has also been repeatedly accused of interfering in the business of the judiciary in other ways. For example, Limbach is accused of personally interfering in the appointment process for the presidency of the Münster Higher Administrative Court on several occasions and stopping it prematurely in order to have the opportunity to place his preferred candidate in this position. In addition, he allegedly made an arbitrary over-assessment of his preferred candidate in order to increase her chances in the application process. This disastrous interference by the executive, of which Limbach is a part as Minister of Justice in NRW, was stopped for the moment by the Münster Administrative Court in urgent proceedings. Until now, Limbach has unsurprisingly denied all allegations on this subject.

New insights have now come to light and the opposition from the SPD and FDP in NRW is openly calling for Limbach's resignation. Whereas previously it was "only" rumored that Limbach had stopped the application process with his preferred candidate, with whom he was personally friends, and that he had given her a favorable assessment, more serious allegations have now come to light. Several media outlets have reported on an article in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, according to which Limbach personally advised two applicants for the post of President of the Higher Administrative Court of Münster to withdraw from the application process last fall in order to clear the way for his preferred candidate, a department head from the Ministry of the Interior, who was ultimately awarded the post.

For instance, in September 2022, Limbach is said to have urged a head of department from his Ministry of Justice to stop his application for the presidency and "continue his successful work in the Ministry of Justice". In November 2022, Limbach then met with a federal judge who had also shown interest in the post of President of the Higher Administrative Court in Münster and openly told him that they had "a better one" and that he should withdraw his application. The extent to which Limbach is openly influencing appointments to the judiciary can be seen from the fact that there was no assessment of his favorite in autumn 2022 and there was not even a suitability ranking of the applicants at that time. There was therefore no assessment at all by the bodies responsible for the application as to which applicants were suitable for the post and how. Manipulation and exertion of influence before the actual start of the assessment phase is not only very audacious, but also quite stupid. However, we have already seen in the Cum-Ex case that Limbach obviously has the audacity to use the gangster methods of his chancellor also in NRW, but does not necessarily have the intelligence to back up these criminal methods credibly and with clever lies. Finally, the Ministry of Justice in NRW had to admit to the talks between Limbach and the candidates in response to a WAZ inquiry.

The opposition in the state parliament suspects that the preferential treatment of Limbach's personal friend is not just a personal project of the Minister of Justice, but that it is the plan of the black-green coalition in general to elevate the woman from the Ministry of the Interior to the important OVG post. This theory is supported, among other things, by her lack of professional experience in the field of work and the fact that she was awarded the post despite this fact. In contrast to other candidates, Limbach's favorite has not held a supreme court office for many years and has never headed a senate.

How things will continue with the Green gangster justice minister in NRW is still open. On Thursday, the opposition requested another special meeting of the judicial committee. If Limbach stumbles over the lies he told in previous judicial committees, that could be the end of him. Meanwhile, the decision on the appointment to the post of OVG President is, piquantly, made by the Münster Higher Administrative Court itself. A ruling in this matter is expected by the end of the year and the events taking place in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament between now and then will certainly also have an influence on the judges.

What these cases of corruption, manipulation and power games between the various cliques and factions of the bourgeoisie demonstrate well is, on the one hand, the advancing decomposition of imperialism as a system and, consequently, the degeneration of the political personnel of the bourgeoisie within this process. On the other hand, this and similar cases are also good examples of how all the propaganda of the bourgeois ideals of the division of powers, the rule of law and parliamentary democracy are increasingly being shattered by the reality of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, which in turn has to place more and more power in the hands of the executive in times of general crisis of imperialism in order to maintain its dictatorship over the working class and the people.