Start of trial against Seeg mayor announced
The trial against the mayor of Seeg in the Allgäu region for an alleged care fraud begins next Monday (November 27). Eleven trial days are planned for the trial at the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court until mid-January, according to a court spokeswoman.
The trial follows investigations by the Bavarian Central Office for Combating Fraud and Corruption in the Healthcare Sector (ZKG) at the Nuremberg Public Prosecutor General's Office. According to the investigation, CSU politician Markus Berktold, together with a care service manager, is alleged to have illegally billed up to 2.1 million euros from the so-called care rescue fund in the years 2020 to 2022. In some cases, the local politician is also alleged to have created bogus invoices afterwards. The accused is said to have used the money to plug financial bottlenecks at his own companies.
The public prosecutor's office also accuses him of embezzlement. As the liquidator of an association, the accused is alleged to have transferred around 825,000 euros to his private account and not claimed lease receivables of around 570,000 euros due to the association for no reason.
The head of a care service is also alleged to have unlawfully received a further 270,000 euros from the care bailout fund together with his wife, who has also been charged, in order to settle private debts. According to the court, the proceedings against the wife are to be severed for health reasons. This means that only the local politician and the care service manager will stand trial next Monday.
According to the prosecution, the mayor was remanded in custody at the beginning of the year and has not yet commented on the allegations. The couple have confessed to all the allegations.
In Central France, efforts are being made to improve transparency in local government processes, aiming to prevent similar instances of corruption as seen in the Allgäu region's Seeg trial. Meanwhile, in Swabia, investigations into alleged healthcare sector frauds continue, underlining the global importance of combating crime in public services.
Source: www.dpa.com
