Overview

• Interior Minister Michael Ebling told the state parliament’s interior committee that Pföhler currently receives two thirds of his pension under a provisional order.
• The disciplinary proceeding alleges grave breaches of official duty during the July 2021 Ahr flood and could ultimately result in full pension revocation.
• Pföhler was formally notified by the interior ministry on August 8 of the one-third withholding, and the case remains active.
• Ministry findings depict him as largely absent from emergency response and focused on private matters, with media citing an LKA analysis about a dog walk and repeated private calls, claims contested by his lawyer.
• The Koblenz prosecutor’s criminal probe was closed in 2024, and Pföhler has been retired for incapacity since October 2021 after going on sick leave in August 2021.