According to the Hanau Regional Court, the bankruptcy of the Philipp men’s clothing factory was not the work of “locusts”.
© Thorsten Becker
Hanau – The 5th Large Commercial Criminal Chamber at the Hanau District Court had initially prepared for a lengthy process to clear up the bankruptcy of the J. Philipp men’s clothing factory in Hanau-Wilhelmsbad. The negotiation days were scheduled until July (we reported). Surprisingly, a decision has already been made – which could be quite expensive for the four men from the Berlin region accused of bankruptcy and the delay in bankruptcy.
And the judges chaired by Dr. Mirko Schulte have brought together new findings. The quartet of merchants and a lawyer who was involved in the bankruptcy of the traditional company on Hochstädter Landstrasse more than six years ago now has two weeks to meet the conditions ordered by the court. Then the proceedings against them will be dropped. Because of minor guilt, as stipulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
200,000 euros for charitable purposes
The sum is record breaking. The brother couple F. from Hoppegarten near Berlin, who had taken over the Hanau factory, first had to pay 1.5 million euros into the Philipp insolvency administrator’s pot. Both are also required to pay 100,000 euros each to charitable purposes, as instructed by the court. Smaller amounts are due from lawyer S. from Berlin – he has to pay 10,000. For ex-managing director V., who had previously managed the company, it is 8,000 euros. All four defendants had given information and admitted to having made mistakes in the bankruptcy.
Judges come to completely new insights
In its assessment, the Economic Criminal Chamber made it clear that there will most likely be no acquittals in this process. However, the judges assessed the events very differently after hearing a huge mountain of figures and experts who, however, could not clearly pinpoint a point in time of the insolvency.
The Berlin company is by no means one of the economic “locusts” who buy and break up flourishing companies in order to make a huge profit. The opposite was the case. Above all, the F. brothers invested an estimated ten million euros in the Hanau company and apparently actually tried to renovate the men’s clothing factory at the beginning. So the bottom line was that it was a negative deal.
“Corpse saved and then killed”
Therefore, the judges also came to the conclusion that J. Philipp was already in great financial difficulties before the sale to the large company in Brandenburg and had exhausted the credit lines. However, the defendants acted at least negligently at the company’s “funeral”. Prosecutor Mathias Pleuser sees it the same way and puts it drastically: “You first saved a corpse and then killed it.”
Further civil proceedings in Brandenburg
However, the temporary suspension is by no means the end of the legal battle over the costs of bankruptcy. The Philipp insolvency administrator won civil proceedings against the brothers in a trial at the Frankfurt / Oder regional court. According to the ruling, more than 3.3 million euros must be paid back into the bankruptcy estate. However, the Brandenburg judgment is not yet final.
Main suspect fled Berlin prison
And the Philipp case is not yet closed before the Hanau district court either, because there is still a fifth defendant. He is accused of aiding and abetting bankruptcy. Christian F., who was heavily burdened by the quartet, is said to have been the one who was ultimately responsible for the “company funeral”. As the HA found out, F. is said to have already been in custody on another matter. However, he managed to escape from the Berlin-Plötzensee correctional facility. He is still on the run and is wanted by an arrest warrant from Hanau. (By Thorsten Becker)
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