Hamburg issue another strong rebuke of former club boss Stefan Kuntz | OneFootball

The Hamburger SV supervisory board has once again released a statement defending its actions in the case of former Hamburg board-member-for-sport Stefan Kuntz. This time, the Bundesliga outfit’s supervisory board deemed it necessary to correct accusations leveled against them by Kuntz in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Hamburg deny Kuntz was not made aware of allegations

It came to light after Kuntz’s surprise resignation at the beginning of the month that the real reason Kuntz left the club revolved around allegations of sexual harassment in his professional environment. After Kuntz vehemently denied these charges, HSV quickly released a statement confirming them.

In his SZ interview, Kuntz accused his former club of not making him aware of the allegations before hand. The 63-year-old also stated that he was not given an opportunity to explain himself. The latest HSV statement goes into great detail in order to refute Kuntz’s claims. 

Hamburg offer up specific timeline of events

“The misconduct was credibly described by several whistleblowers independently of one other and led to internal investigations,” the HSV statement reads. “They includes numerous serious breaches of duty that would have prompted any responsible supervisory board to take action. Labor law, as well as our responsibility to our employees and the defense of HSV’s values required swift and consistent action.

“The repeated claim that Stefan Kuntz was not informed of the allegations against him and was not given the opportunity to prove them false is demonstrably untrue,” the statement continues. “On December 18th, Stefan Kuntz was formally informed of the investigation. On December 19th, his lawyers at the time were informed in anonymized form of the contents of all witness statements.

“He [Kuntz] was the offered two dates (December 22nd or December 23rd) for the hearing via his lawyers,” the statement goes on. “Stefan Kuntz and his lawyers did not respond to this. Subsequently, at Stefan Kuntz’s request, the HSV supervisory board proposed two further specific hearing dates by December 27th which were postponed or canceled by Stefan Kuntz or his lawyers.

“On December 27th, Stefan Kuntz informed us that he had changed lawyers and requested a hearing date on December 29th at 11 a.m,” the statement continues. “On the eve of this appointment, Stefan Kuntz announced via his lawyers that he would no longer be available for the hearing and instead wanted to use the appointment to negotiate the termination agreement. Stefan Kuntz refused to attend this meeting, as did his lawyers.“

Hamburg address Kuntz’s claim of promised discretion

In the SZ interview, the reason Kuntz claimed he opted not to attend the hearing concerns the fact that – if the hearing had been allowed to take place – the accusations against him could be made public. It was such that he opted to focus on the termination agreement instead. It appears as if both sides were prepared to adhere to their part of the bargain until Sport Bild leaked the claim and Kuntz took to social media to deny it.

“He [Kuntz] was indeed told that a mutually agreed termination agreement was a way of avoiding a lengthy investigation that could potentially become public,” the statement reads. “Since he was aware of the validity of the allegations, he was in the best position to judge whether this was a sensible course of action. On this basis, Stefan Kuntz, advised by several lawyers, decided of his own free will to conclude the termination agreement.”

Hamburg address Kuntz’s own criminal complaint

The Sport Bild leak notwithstanding, the HSV statement then notes that (as far as the promise of discretion is concerned) another part of the bargain included Kuntz withdrawing a criminal stalking complaint against one of his supposed accusers. In clear words and with a strict tone, the HSV supervisory board denies that there was much of any merit to Kuntz’s complaint. The statement then concludes with a harsh judgement against Kuntz’s public statements.

“Stefan Kuntz had his lawyers proposed the withdrawal of his criminal complaint so that the desire to communicate the separation discreetly would not be thwarted,” the statement reads. “We now know that the content of this criminal complaint, which has only been available to us since December 30, is at least in part demonstrably untrue.

“The HSV supervisory board considers it regrettable in the interests of all persons concerned that these public corrections have become necessary,” the statement concludes.

GGFN | Peter Weis