Large-scale police operation
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Huge raid against the Al-Zein clan in North Rhine-Westphalia
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The police are conducting a raid against clans in NRW. (icon picture)
Photo: dpa/Fabian shrub
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Düsseldorf More than 100 investigators have been searching premises in several NRW cities since Wednesday morning. The investigations are directed against clan members who are accused of, among other things, money laundering and fraud in Corona emergency aid on a large scale.
At dawn, the investigators strike. Since early Wednesday, more than 100 investigators have been searching a total of 14 properties in Solingen, Leichlingen, Wuppertal and Unna. The background to the large-scale raid is investigations into criminal clans – among other things, on suspicion of money laundering. The police, financial administration and public prosecutor’s office are involved in the operation.
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The investigations are primarily aimed at five suspects, all members of an extended family. According to information from our editorial staff from security circles, it should be members of the Al-Zein clan or people related to the Al-Zeins. In addition, according to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office, a lawyer is also being investigated. “He is suspected of having participated in the money laundering acts by providing accounts, forwarding payments and acting as a company director,” the prosecutor said.
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According to the public prosecutor’s office, there is currently a suspicion against the accused of the clan that a sum of millions was obtained through criminal transactions (including illegal water pipe tobacco business) and that this was transferred to the legal money cycle and passed on with the involvement of family members, acquaintances and/or affiliated companies – i.e. money laundering.
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NRW Minister of Justice Peter Biesenbach (CDU) was appalled at the extent of the alleged crimes: “Millions are obtained through criminal business and laundered by family members and acquaintances. Suddenly there are large amounts of money coming in from the Middle East, and the money is distributed to different accounts with the aim of covering up the trail of the money,” says Biesenbach. “State aid such as Corona emergency aid is also shamelessly and wrongly claimed. The alleged perpetrators will stop at nothing.”
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According to the investigations carried out so far, there is a suspicion that incriminated funds were made, among other things, in the form of cash payments to the accounts of the suspects or companies close to them. According to the public prosecutor’s office, payments were made from there to other accounts “which, for example, were incorrectly declared as loans,” according to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office.
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In other cases, payments in the six-digit range are said to have come from the Middle East region. These funds were then distributed to different accounts and redistributed again without any comprehensible reason or used to set up supposed real estate companies. “Although it can be assumed that the corresponding real estate transactions did not exist or were only carried out to cover up the funds that were actually obtained criminally,” according to the public prosecutor’s office.
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In addition, there is a suspicion that the enforcement of public sector claims was thwarted. The government claims, some of which have not been settled for many years, amount to more than one million euros. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the accused are also the owners of various properties. “Corresponding rental income in a not inconsiderable amount was therefore specifically diverted to accounts of other family members in order to prevent access by the tax authorities,” according to the investigators.
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They are also suspected of having fraudulently obtained real estate loans by submitting forged documents, of having fraudulently received NRW-Soforthilfe 2020 benefits (the so-called Corona-Soforthilfe) and of having concealed the existence of bank accounts and real estate property in the course of the asset disclosure in the foreclosure proceedings.
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Biesenbach praised the effort. “With blows like today, we hit the suspected clans in the right place: the money. We find out again and again: Clan crime involves amounts in the millions. And about a very specific attitude: You try to evade the usual mechanisms of the rule of law, the state authority, and say openly, ‘I’ll do what I want! Your rules don’t apply to me!’ Our answer is clear: we will fight back with all means of the rule of law.”
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