According to the Koblenz public prosecutor's office, there are suspicions of gang infidelity, subsidy fraud and delaying insolvency at the now insolvent Hunsrück Airport Hahn.
There was a raid there twice.
The investigators are targeting a total of four managers from a total of six companies and one business partner.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate is said to have suffered damage of at least 400,000 euros from the alleged subsidy fraud, as the public prosecutor announced on Thursday.
Four of the five accused men are suspected of having caused “large-scale financial losses” between July 2017 and May 2020 with infidelity and gang-like infidelity with a “joint plan of action” at companies. According to the public prosecutor's office, three of these suspects are said to have withdrawn income from companies and used it for themselves in two cases. They are also said to have paid bills to a company twice - knowing that there was a lack of services. Rental income from a company was not recorded. The amount of damage could not be quantified, it said.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the alleged subsidy fraud by four suspects is about a state payment that was sometimes wrongly applied for.
With a view to five companies, there is also an initial suspicion of delaying insolvency in the summer and autumn of 2021 for three of the accused.
Hahn Airport filed for bankruptcy in October 2021.
The Chinese conglomerate HNA, which has also been ailing in the meantime, acquired 82.5 percent of the airport from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 2017 for around 15 million euros.
The state of Hesse still holds the remaining 17.5 percent.
The search for investors is ongoing.