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Potsdam / Eberswalde (dpa / bb) - The hurdles were low - now it has to be checked: Fraud cases with Corona emergency aid continue to deal with the judiciary and the police in Brandenburg.
At the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), 177 proceedings for subsidy fraud in connection with Corona emergency aid have been carried out since May last year, as the authority announced on request from the dpa.
So far, the investigators determined a total damage amount of over 1.5 million euros.
The corona pandemic has driven up subsidy fraud procedures in Brandenburg, says Steffen Röder, head of one of four commissioners for white-collar crime in Eberswalde (Barnim).
"After a high after the fall of the Wall, we had a decline in subsidy fraud offenses for years," said Röder.
He has been investigating white-collar crime for around 30 years.
Compared to the post-reunification period, when individuals cheated out of sums in the millions, the immediate aid is about relatively small amounts.
Solo self-employed people and small businesses could apply to the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB) for 5,000 or 9,000 euros for immediate aid if they got into financial difficulties due to the corona pandemic.
“It is additional work that has come our way since May.
Around 35 colleagues have to take care of this in addition to their other procedures, ”says Röder.
Nevertheless, the fraud with Corona emergency aid in Brandenburg is still "to be assessed as moderate," said the police officer.
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Unlike in Berlin, for example.
Last year, 2,200 procedures in connection with the Corona emergency aid were carried out there.
The investment bank there was repeatedly accused of not having adequately examined applications and disbursing aid too quickly.
The German Association of Judges (DRB) spoke of well over 20,000 pandemic-related cases nationwide.
In Munich, a 31-year-old was recently sentenced to four and a half years in prison for subsidy fraud.
The man with multiple criminal records is said to have applied for immediate Corona aid in the millions in several federal states - some with foreign identities.
Police officer Röder attributes the low number of frauds in Brandenburg to a good examination at the ILB.
From there, the suspected cases come to the LKA, among other things.
ILB spokeswoman Ingrid Mattern says that the bank has decided to adhere to the usual procedure for the disbursement of subsidies as far as possible, despite the pandemic.
The clerks checked each case;
do you have a current trade license?
Has the application been filled out correctly?
Is the company actually based in Brandenburg?
“Two or four clerks' eyes checked the applications.
Of course, we noticed inconsistencies, ”says Mattern.
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During the processing process last year, the bank counted 230 suspected cases, not all of which were confirmed.
A total of around 76,000 applications for emergency aid were received by the bank in 2020, of which around 61,000 were approved, as Mattern said.
Around 526 million euros were paid out.
By the end of March, the LKA had submitted 109 of the 177 cases to the state prosecutor's offices.
The investigators are still working on the remaining cases.
Depending on the complexity, the exam will take around three to eight weeks.
For the investigation, the officials obtain information from the respective credit institute and the trade office.
A total of more than 300 proceedings have started at the public prosecutor's offices in Potsdam, Frankfurt (Oder) and Cottbus, some have been discontinued, some handed over to public prosecutor's offices in other federal states and in various cases charges have been brought or a penalty order has been issued, as the authorities announced.
Subsidy fraud threatens imprisonment of up to five years or fines.
According to the responsible department head of the Neuruppin public prosecutor's office, around half of the proceedings have been discontinued and the other half have been indicted or a penalty order has been issued.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210411-99-158305 / 3