April 21, 2021

TU Dresden has now assessed possible legal steps regarding the PPP study. Notwithstanding, Dresden’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has already initiated a criminal investigation,

following the final report of an investigation committee appointed by TU Dresden. The externally chaired committee was tasked with looking into allegations that data from the PPP study had not been collected in line with good scientific practice. This was confirmed in a final report submitted to TUD on February 24, 2021. Based on the evidence at hand, the investigative committee presumes that the project manager heavily manipulated and falsified data.

Sebastian Gemkow, State Minister of Science, has requested that the Rector of TU Dresden initiate disciplinary proceedings against the project manager. TUD has therefore commissioned its legal counsel to do so. However, the disciplinary proceedings are on hold until the criminal investigation produces a conclusive decision.

Following the advice of our legal counsel, we have informed universities that have awarded the professor academic degrees and titles about the findings.

As there have also been allegations of budgetary misconduct on the part of the project manager during his time as a professor at TU Dresden, an independent external auditor is examining all receipts from 2012 until the professor’s retirement in March 2017.

Currently, TU Dresden has not suffered any damage and has therefore not asserted any civil claims. GWT, the contractor commissioned to conduct the field study, is reviewing the legal consequences on its part.

In the interest of its members, TU Dresden has placed great importance from the outset on providing complete transparency regarding the allegations and using the results of the case to develop and refine its compliance system.

You can find more information in the press release from February 25, 2021: https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/newsportal/presse/statement-der-tu-dresden-zur-ppp-studie