Because of money laundering, Justitia dealt with a 58-year-old. © IMAGO/Blatterspiel
In court, a remarkable version emerged of how scoundrels in Germany try to smuggle fraudulent money into the legal economic cycle.
Dachau – In a criminal trial that Judge Tobias Bauer had to negotiate at the Dachau District Court, it was about a case of money laundering, which initially puzzled everyone present in the courtroom. Again and again, Bauer had to ask the defendant, a 58-year-old Croat who now lives in Karlsfeld, because he kept telling him new, sometimes contradictory stories.
Acquaintance asks 58-year-old for help for a woman
It all started in mid-January 2022 with a call from a hotelier from Baden-Württemberg to the accused. The acquaintance asked the 58-year-old for help for another acquaintance from Bosnia who had been in Germany and had suffered an accident at work. In order to enable him to receive initial medical care and return to his homeland, the defendant was to lend 500 euros to the victim, whom he did not even know. He will get the money back if the accident victim has sold his car, the hotelier said on the phone.
And indeed, on February 3, the defendant received a transfer of 16,200 euros from an account at Sparkasse Oldenburg to his own. Of this, he was allowed to keep 500 euros to pay off debts and another 200 euros as an expense allowance. The defendant withdrew the remaining 15,500 euros on the same day and gave them to a bus driver who brought the money to Bosnia.
Money comes from online banking scams
In fact, however, the money came from a man from Oldenburg, where unknown persons had gained access to his mobile phone. In the days that followed, the crooks withdrew money from the victim's account five times via online banking – a total of 50,200 euros. A tranche of 16,200 euros was finally transferred to the defendant's account.
How the whole thing was discovered, an investigator of the criminal investigation department Fürstenfeldbruck explained in the main hearing: "A message has been received from the Sparkasse Oldenburg to the State Criminal Police Office, because of possible money laundering." The police began to investigate, "and we became suspicious because the deposit and withdrawal from the account of the gentleman... on the same day," the police officer continued.
The prosecutor made it clear in his plea that the 58-year-old "certainly considered that the money came from a criminal business". He demanded a fine of 8000 euros against the defendant, who had not yet been convicted. He, in turn, claimed that he had not acted with intent under any circumstances. "It's complicated," he said simply.
Judge Bauer, in turn, was sure that the 58-year-old "recognized the circumstances that the whole thing cannot be legal." Out of indifference, he nevertheless acted – and thus with conditional intent. The presiding judge then sentenced the defendant to a fine of 6000 euros.
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