Germany's reputation for precision, quality work and punctuality has already taken big hits because of construction delays and engineering errors at its still-under-construction new Berlin-Brandenburg airport for Berlin now has the additional embarrassment of charges that three of Germany's biggest companies—Siemens, Bosch and Telekom—cooked the books on the project to steal millions of Euros through inflated bills.
The charges, published in Bild am Sonntag, date to before the original opening date for the airport, which was supposed to open in 2011. According to the paper, the three companies submitted large inflated invoices that were quickly paid "often without question" or audit. One of the companies, Siemens, pledged to cooperate with any investigation, saying "we cannot completely rule out wrongdoing by individuals."
Meanwhile, even the current projected date of late 2017 for opening the airport is questionable; one of the prime contractors has recently gone bankrupt, leaving a new uncertainty. Past problems, discussed in a TravelGumbo blog in April, have included a ventilation system that would have choked the terminal instead of clearing it, substandard construction that had to be redone, water damage and more. The airport is a replacement for Berlin's Tegel, Sonnefeld and the now-closed Tempelhof airports.
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