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Investigations in Berlin (symbolic image)
Photo: Andreas Friedrichs / IMAGO
By claiming to have founded a daycare center, a couple in Berlin is said to have defrauded four people of a total of around 200,000 euros. According to information on Thursday, the capital's public prosecutor's office brought charges against the 50-year-old woman and her 48-year-old husband. The allegations relate to four particularly serious cases of community and commercial fraud, in one case involving forgery of documents.
Between May 2017 and September 2020, the defendants are said to have claimed that they wanted to set up a daycare center. In the hope of this, people gave them money, the public prosecutor explained.
An affected educator is said to have no longer received social benefits from the job center as a result of the couple's actions. The public prosecutor's office alleges that this caused the woman to suffer economic hardship. The woman paid more than 60,000 euros in the hope of getting a job.
Borrowed money invested
In some cases, the couple is said to have even submitted fake documents to the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family in order to maintain the "legend of founding a daycare center." The public prosecutor's office explained that a preliminary employment contract had also been concluded with another woman. She invested 9,000 euros in the project, which she borrowed from third parties.
According to the information, one man is said to have invested more than a hundred thousand euros - he also borrowed some of this money. Another man invested 30,000 euros, the public prosecutor said.
In total, the accused fraudulently obtained almost 202,000 euros. The Berlin-Tiergarten District Court will decide whether to admit the charges and whether to open main proceedings against the couple.
wit/AFP/dpa