Peter Hartz (born 9 August 1941 in

Sankt Ingbert St. Ingbert (also ''Sankt Ingbert''; pfl, Dingmert or ''Dimbert'') is a town in the Saarpfalz district in Saarland, Germany with a population of 35,213 (2020). It is situated approximately 10 km north-east of Saarbrücken and 10 km s ...

), was the human resources executive at the German public company

Volkswagen AG Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...

(VW). Twenty percent of

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post ...

's shares are owned by the state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. Hartz became notable as adviser to

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

and former

Prime Minister of Lower Saxony A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of German ...

, with whom Hartz developed the so-called '' Hartz-reforms'' of the German labour market and job agencies; the German welfare benefit, Hartz IV, is named after the fourth stage of his reforms.

Resignation

On 8 July 2005, Hartz offered his resignation (which was accepted a few days later) amidst allegations of wrongdoings in his area of responsibility at

, which include : # kickbacks to

managers from bogus companies doing real estate business with

, especially at the Czech subsidiary

Škoda Auto Škoda Auto a.s. (), often shortened to Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Škoda Works became state owned in 1948. After ...

; # favours to members of the

works council A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of r ...

(''Betriebsrat''), which are illegal under German law (the chairman of the VW works council, , had resigned 30 June 2005). # The contracting of prostitutes at the company's expense, sometimes in company-owned apartments and under the influence of

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, which had been prescribed by the company's medical service.

Conviction

Following a deal with the prosecution, Hartz confessed to the charges, and on 25 January 2007, he was convicted to a prison term of 2 years, but set free on probation, and to a fine of .Arbeitsmarktreform: Hartz IV soll nicht mehr nach Hartz heißen - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
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Resignation

Conviction

References

See also