Theft and fraud caused millions in damages to the Hamburg copper manufacturer Aurubis – the crimes remained undetected for a long time. After an investigation, three of the company’s board members must now leave early.
After millions in damages due to fraud and theft that went undetected for a long time at the Hamburg copper and recycling specialist Aurubis AG, CEO Roland Harings and two other board members have to leave the company early.
The supervisory board announced that it was “agreed to terminate the current management board contracts early.” “The three board members are taking into account the special challenges faced by Aurubis in the past financial year, particularly with regard to the serious cases of fraud and theft at the Hamburg plant and incidents in the area of occupational safety.” Last year, three employees died in a nitrogen leak at Aurubis.
Not the first time a victim of fraud
Aurubis was the victim of criminals in several cases. For example, a large-scale fraud came to light that was noticed during the regular check of the metal inventory: There were significant deviations from the target inventory as well as deviations in special samples of certain recycling deliveries.
Aurubis assumes that manipulated samples with high levels of valuable metals were delivered, but that the deliveries then contained significantly less valuable metals – which ultimately led to excessive invoices being paid.
The bottom line is that in December, when presenting the annual results for 2022/23 (September 30), the company spoke of a metal shortage of 169 million euros. The accident with three deaths also overshadowed the financial year.
Theft and fraud cases did not come to light for a long time
The cases of theft and fraud remained undetected for a long time. This raised doubts among the members of the control committee about the risk management of the company management. A law firm then investigated the board’s responsibility in connection with the crimes.
Harings, whose contract actually ran until mid-2027, was confident “that the investigations show that we have managed the company with all due care and responsibility.” The 60-year-old manager is now leaving Aurubis at the end of September. Production director Heiko Arnold is leaving on February 29th, and financial director Rainer Verhoeven is stepping down from his position on June 30th.
Only board member Inge Hofkens (53), who was only appointed at the beginning of 2023 and is responsible for the MDAX group’s emerging recycling business, will retain her board mandate.