Former German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer goes on trial in Berlin over alleged false testimony

Charges before the Berlin Regional Court

The 38th Criminal Chamber of the Berlin Regional Court 1 opens the trial against former Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer and co-defendant Schulz on Monday, 21 September 2026, in courtroom 500 at 9:30 AM. Berlin prosecutors charged both men with intentionally providing false unsworn testimony between October 2020 and January 2021 before the parliamentary inquiry committee investigating the passenger car toll project. The proceedings center on the contents of a breakfast meeting held in November 2018. The court scheduled twelve days of hearings to determine whether the defendants testified truthfully about that meeting. Under Section 153 of the German Criminal Code, unsworn false testimony carries a potential prison sentence ranging from three months to five years.

Defense position and political context

Both defendants reject the accusations against them. They are represented by attorneys from the Berlin law firm Krause & Kollegen, who did not respond to an inquiry prior to the opening of the main proceedings. The trial is the first time since the mid-1980s that former German federal ministers have faced a criminal court, when former Economics Ministers Hans Friderichs and Otto Graf Lambsdorff stood trial in Bonn during the Flick affair over party donations and tax evasion.

Background of the toll controversy

The case stems from the passenger car toll initiative pursued in 2018 under former Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government. Scheuer was responsible for executing the toll as a signature project for the Christian Social Union. The proposed mechanism sought to charge foreign drivers on German motorways while offsetting costs for domestic drivers through motor vehicle tax relief. Merkel had previously rejected the concept during a 2013 election debate.

There will be no car toll with me.