The allegedly corrupt chief public prosecutor was once the highest corruption fighter in Hesse.
(Photo: imago/Ralph Peters)
Dusseldorf The scale of the allegations is enormous: commercial, serious bribery in 101 cases, commercial breach of trust in office in at least 55 cases and tax evasion in nine cases. These acts are said to have been committed by what was once the top corruption fighter in Hesse, Senior Public Prosecutor B. The 54-year-old has been in custody since late Friday afternoon – again.
This was announced by the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt in the evening. She plans to provide more information in the coming week.
The scandal had shaken the Hessian judiciary a good year and a half ago. B. was arrested at his workplace at the end of July 2020 on suspicion of corruption. In proceedings for alleged billing fraud in the healthcare sector, he is said to have received bribes for expert opinion orders from external service providers, according to the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s allegation at the time. At least 300,000 euros are said to have flowed to B. in the period from 2015 to 2020 alone. The case also caused such great horror because B. was one of the best-known public prosecutors in Frankfurt and was always considered to be of particularly high integrity in his agency and far beyond.
Almost two months later, the chief public prosecutor, who had largely confessed, was released and the arrest warrant against him was suspended. A former school friend Bs was also released at the time. He is said to have founded a company in 2005 on the initiative of the senior public prosecutor, which subsequently mainly provided expert opinions for the judicial authorities. According to the public prosecutor’s office, he was also largely confessed and largely admitted the bribe payments. In addition, the investigations were directed against three other suspects.
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Second prosecutor also charged
But the investigators are now assuming that the crimes are far greater. “The renewed arrest of the accused, who was spared pre-trial detention in September 2020, was necessary because the investigations carried out since then have resulted in further allegations to a large extent,” said the public prosecutor.
Because of the significantly increased expectation of punishment, there is now a risk of absconding in addition to the continued risk of blacking out.
>> Read here: Bribery scandal: suspected companies in the Hessian judicial scandal have to file for bankruptcy
In total, the proceedings were directed against eight suspects. This was announced by the Hessian Minister of Justice in response to a request from the FDP in the Legal Policy Committee in November. It is now known that the scandal is also affecting the judiciary. Shortly before Christmas 2021, investigators announced that a second prosecutor from the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office had been suspended from duty. He is apparently a former close employee of B. He is being investigated in the office on suspicion of aiding and abetting infidelity.
The investigations were started in 2019 by the then partner of B.
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