On Wednesday, the Hamburg Regional Court sentenced three defendants to prison terms of between three and four and a half years for gang evasion of 4.5 million euros in taxes for the delivery of corona protective masks.
A co-accused tax consultant received a suspended sentence of eleven months for aiding and abetting an attempted sales tax evasion.
The fifth defendant, a lawyer, was sentenced to nine months' probation on two counts of gift tax evasion.
According to the chairman of the Criminal Court, the main defendant, a car dealer with many previous convictions, and a business partner became aware of a so-called open house tender by the Federal Ministry of Health.
Accordingly, the ministry declared in spring 2020 that it would pay 2.50 euros for each FFP2 mask delivered and 16 cents for each surgical mask.
The two defendants, who are now 31 and 32 years old, offered the delivery of 20 million FFP2 and 3 million surgical masks - and were awarded the contract.
At the time, they had neither masks, financial resources, nor contacts with suppliers.
They also lacked expertise, said presiding judge Kai-Alexander Heeren.
Nevertheless, they would have procured and delivered the masks from China.
The Federal Ministry of Health paid 109 million euros, 17 million of which was sales tax.
After receiving the money, the main defendant, his business partner and his 23-year-old brother failed to pay the VAT due and instead invested the money in cars and other things.
They gave their 46-year-old lawyer friend a luxury car, for which he paid no gift tax.
When the accused found out about criminal proceedings, the 31-year-old tax consultant tried to submit false invoices to the tax office for them.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.