The head of an illegal hawala banking system has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison.
The Düsseldorf Regional Court found the 52-year-old jeweler from Duisburg guilty of illegal payment services, illegal possession of weapons and as a member of a criminal organization.
Düsseldorf - According to the judgment, a 53-year-old accomplice has to be behind bars for two years and ten months.
Three other defendants escaped as helpers with suspended sentences of between one year and eight and one year and ten months.
They too were convicted of being members of a criminal organization.
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The men had confessed to having illegally smuggled a three-digit million amount past banks and the tax authorities into Turkey from Duisburg within two years.
The hawala system is widely used in Muslim countries as an alternative remittance system.
With the system, customers can transfer money outside of the government-approved banking and finance system for a commission.
The network was blown in mid-November 2019.
"All of the allegations listed in the indictment are true," the jeweler had confessed.
"I knew that hawala banking was a criminal offense in Germany, but I never thought of organized crime."
His defense lawyer announced that he would have the judgment reviewed by the Federal Court of Justice.
The court also ordered the confiscation of 174 million euros as the proceeds of the crime.
dpa
