Raid after suspected fraud at Inselschule Nonnenwerth
Created: 2022-03-23Updated: 2022-03-23 15:52
The word "Police" is written on an emergency vehicle.
© Marijan Murat/dpa/symbol image
There was a raid in connection with the announced closure of the almost 170-year-old school on the Rhine island of Nonnenwerth near Remagen in summer 2022.
According to the Koblenz public prosecutor's office, investigations were initiated into the initial suspicion of fraud.
Four officers from the prosecution and around 40 police officers searched 13 objects in northern Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday.
Remagen - The school is close to the border between the two federal states.
The cause was criminal charges by the association "Schulwerk des Gymnasiums Nonnenwerth" and a parent.
Accordingly, the buyer of the island and school is said to have secretly planned from the beginning not to continue the school.
The Franciscan nuns who were selling were said to have been deceived about this at first, so they agreed on a lower purchase price than the otherwise achievable price.
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In addition, the accused is said to have later persuaded school parents to make donations in the upper six-digit range with the promise of continued schooling.
He did not submit an invoice for their use.
The public prosecutor's office also said: "However, initial findings indicate that there was no legally binding commitment to continue the school to the sellers."
There had already been a lot of fuss about the future of the high school, including demonstrations with hundreds of students.
The buyer justified the cessation of school operations at the end of the current school year, which was announced in November 2021, with prescribed fire protection measures in the huge historic island building worth millions.
In an exposé from a real estate agent, however, luxury apartments had already been promised there.
The broker later spoke of a misunderstanding.
dpa