As the Ministry of the Interior informed the SR, there are currently 26 investigations by the public prosecutor’s office in Saarland due to fraud in the implementation of corona tests. In October last year there were 16.
Perpetrators partially convicted of fraud
A total of 90 former test centers in all districts and the Saarbrücken regional association are affected. The accused are individual perpetrators but also groups of perpetrators, some of whom have operated several centers. Some of them have previous convictions for fraud, among other things.
The proceedings against them started as a result of reports from the Saarland Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) or the health authorities, but also because of suspected money laundering reports and reports from those who were allegedly tested.
Audio [SR 3, (c) Thomas Gerber, 12.04.2023, Länge: 01:07 Min.]
Millions in damage from fraud in corona test centers
Successful house searches
According to the ministry, house searches have already taken place in five of the 26 investigations. Extensive evidence was secured. However, “considerable material assets” and sums of money were also secured.
According to the ministry, the damage caused by the illegally billed tests is usually in the six-digit range and totals millions. According to SR information, the largest single damage is said to have occurred in a test center in St. Ingbert.
Largest single damage in the St. Ingbert test center
A 24-year-old and a 21-year-old are said to have completed more than 85,000 tests within five months and received a good one million euros from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians.
The investigators suspect that only about five percent of the billed tests were actually carried out. In this investigation, there was already a house search in August last year and extensive interrogations of former employees of the test center. The process is apparently nearing completion and seems “ready for prosecution”.
more on the subject
Investigations against four test center operators
Apparently massive fraud with corona tests in Saarland
In the Corona tests, which were free of charge until recently, there have apparently also been major irregularities in Saarland. The state could have suffered millions in damage. Individual test centers may have billed for significantly more tests than they carried out.
The SR radio news also reported on this topic on April 12, 2023.
