An employee of the marketing department of Fielmann AG is said to have financed a life of luxury for years at the expense of his employer and also given his loved ones plenty to take care of – for example with exclusive trips with a volcano ascent, shopping tours, high-quality jewellery, a house renovation and kitchen equipment. A baby cashmere scarf for around 3000 euros is said to have been included, as one of the two prosecutors said on Tuesday before the Kiel district court at the indictment reading.
The accused is said to have maintained his wealth by waving through invoices from business partners for alleged PR campaigns for Fielmann AG, which did not take place at all or not to the extent stated. This would have included jersey equipment and tree planting campaigns with names such as “Naschgarten” or “Plant Me” in schools and kindergartens, which should have been placed in the media in an effective advertising manner.
The 56-year-old has been in the dock with five suspected accomplices in the Kiel district court since Tuesday, including a former handball professional and his brother. As the managing director of a sports event agency and a horticultural business, you are said to have made the fake or inflated invoices. Total damage for Fielmann AG according to the prosecution: around 6.4 million euros. In addition, the “orders” requested by the former Fielmann employee are said to be worth around 370,000 euros.
The indictment lists more than 1,300 cases of infidelity as well as gang and commercial fraud in particularly serious cases or aiding and abetting. In addition, around 40 cases of bribery and corruption are accused. The donations were made in the form of luxury trips such as climbing volcanoes with a personal guide, exclusive shopping tours, high-quality jewellery, the renovation of his holiday home and expensive kitchen equipment for his parents too.
The accused former Fielmann employee is said to have ordered and received all of this by email with a PDF attachment or a link to the website. If convicted, the accused face between one and ten years in prison.
At the beginning of the trial, however, there were already signs of an agreement between the court, prosecutors and defense attorneys. The public prosecutor’s office signaled before the start of the main hearing that they wanted to demand at least five years in prison for the main accused in the event of a confession, said the presiding judge Markus Richter. For the other accused, prison sentences of up to three and a half years or suspended sentences are under discussion.
The defense attorneys indicated that their clients were ready to confess. There is a significant reduction in punishment for this. The defense questioned the extent of the damage cited by the prosecution. Fielmann AG did not claim back a number of fees. Otherwise, the accounting system was specified by Fielmann AG itself. Invoices were also only accepted on the basis of copied newspaper articles, which the accused are said to have produced themselves without the events having taken place.
The court has scheduled 14 days of hearings. The verdict could therefore fall at the end of August. However, an agreement could shorten the process considerably. (dpa)