Seized objects - Process regarding Clan-Real Estate: Court orders attachment
In a case regarding seized real estate allegedly belonging to an Arab clan, the Berlin Regional Court I has ordered the seizure of five objects and additional related assets such as rental claims. According to the Presiding Judge Susann Wettley, these real estate properties were "financed with funds from criminal activities." Therefore, they were to be seized.
Affected parties in this so-called independent seizure procedure are two men, aged 40 and 72. The younger man has lived in Berlin for decades, while the older man resides in Lebanon. Two petitions from the Public Prosecutor's Office concern real estate and land in the Berlin metropolitan area. The men are believed to have purchased real estate between December 2013 and May 2019.
"Disproportionate relationship" between value and income
The court now saw a "disproportionate relationship" between the value of the Objects and the men's lawful income, the judgment continued. The 40-year-old had entered Germany in the mid-1980s, and the family had primarily lived on social benefits since then - "their income records do not show how such large sums could have accumulated." In the opinion of the court, money from German criminal activities was taken to Lebanon and then transferred back to Germany to purchase real estate.
It was not the 40-year-old, but other family members who had committed crimes with significant assets. "The Strafkammer could not clarify how the money was spent in Lebanon," the judge added. Intermediaries living in Lebanon were involved in the purchase of real estate. The court followed the prosecutor's application. The judgment is not yet legally binding.
One of the lawyers for the 40-year-old had stated that the seizure applications were unlawful. No illegal assets had flowed into the real estate. Money from the "parents and grandparents generation" in Lebanon was used. There were no criminal connections. The defendant's client had no involvement with Crimes committed by relatives.
In a spectacular action in July 2018, a total of 77 real estate properties, allegedly belonging to a large Berlin family, were provisionally secured, with an estimated value of around nine million Euros. Investigators assume that these houses and land were not purchased with legal funds. The term Clan criminality is controversial, as critics argue that it stigmatizes and discriminates against people with migration backgrounds based on their family ties and origin.
- The seizure order from Berlin Regional Court I affects real estate in Germany, including properties and rental claims, which are believed to be funded by criminal activities in Lebanon.
- The men under investigation, one residing in Berlin and the other in Lebanon, are accused of purchasing real estate within a specific period using funds that may have originated from criminal activities.
- The Public Prosecutor's Office has submitted two petitions related to real estate and land in the Berlin metropolitan area, citing evidence of criminality that links the men to the properties.
- The court found a "disproportionate relationship" between the men's lawful income and the value of the seized objects, leading to the assumption that funds from German criminal activities were involved in the Lebanon-to-Germany real estate transactions.
- The defendant's lawyer argued that the seizure applications were unlawful, claiming that the men's involvement in the real estate purchases stemmed from funds inherited from family members in Lebanon and that there were no criminal connections.
- The withdrawal of assets from Germany and investment in real estate in Lebanon are under investigation by German authorities in an effort to combat clan criminality, a practice accused of stigmatizing and discriminating against certain communities.
