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Sig-Sauer company headquarters in Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein
Photo:
Marcus Brandt / dpa
The north German arms manufacturer Sig Sauer made millions through illegal exports of tens of thousands of pistols.
According to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice, the company from Schleswig-Holstein now has to forego the proceeds from the weapons that reached Colombia via the USA, amounting to a good eleven million euros.
The court-ordered collection of 11.1 million euros was legal, decided the third Senate in Karlsruhe - and largely rejected the appeal of three of the company's companies against a ruling by the Kiel Regional Court.
Ex-manager sentenced to suspended sentence
In April 2019, the district court imposed suspended sentences and high monetary requirements on three defendants, including former managing directors of the German headquarters based in Eckernförde, for the unauthorized delivery of pistols to Colombia.
The court found it established that they were responsible for shipping more than 47,000 SP 2022 pistols to a sister company in the US between 2009 and 2011.
Of these weapons, over 38,000 were resold to Colombia.
The weapons managers were therefore sentenced to suspended sentences for violating the Foreign Trade Act.
According to the district court, it had already been established that the pistols should be shipped to Colombia.
However, arms exports were not allowed under German law; the human rights situation in the country was classified as serious by the Foreign Office at the time.
The appeal before the BGH was only directed against the collection of 11.1 million euros - according to the court's calculation, that was the revenue from the illegal business.
7.4 million euros of this are attributable to the German Sig-Sauer companies.
File number: 3 StR 518/19
hba / dpa
