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Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office: Charges brought against church employees in 234 cases
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
In Berlin, a church employee is said to have embezzled money for funerals for years and thus obtained at least almost 166,900 euros. The public prosecutor's office accuses the employee of the Evangelical Cemetery Association of commercial breach of trust in 234 cases, a spokesman said. In fact, investigators assume there are more crimes.
The now 50-year-old is said to have embezzled money from the South-East Church Administration Office since 2012, according to the public prosecutor's office. However, any acts committed before July 2017 are statute-barred. According to a spokesman for the authorities, the man was fired at the end of 2021 after he was exposed.
Missing bookings noticed during system changeover
According to the investigation, the church employee is said to have forwarded cash to himself from the association offices in Karlshorst, Mahlsdorf and Mariendorf in 32 cases - and thus collected 91,850 euros. He is said to have obtained a further 67,940 euros by keeping payments for himself from more than a hundred customers who had already made down payments during their lifetime for funeral costs that would later become due. In dozens more cases, the man is said to have pocketed money that was paid to the cemetery association for flowers and grave utensils.
During a system change in 2019, an employee noticed missing bookings, as the public prosecutor announced. However, one of the customers has already started initial investigations. The Berlin-Tiergarten district court will now decide whether to admit the charges and open a main hearing.
wit/dpa/AFP