Processes
735,000 euros stolen – young banker wants to confess
The man accused of theft (right) is led into the courtroom before the trial begins. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
He has already announced a confession. But does he take the blame alone, or does he rely on accomplices? A lot is still unclear in the trial against a former bank employee.
The expert is supposed to clarify one of the big open questions: Did the young banker have a delay in maturity or not? This depends on whether he will be sentenced under juvenile criminal law or under general criminal law.
There are still some other questions unanswered. For example, whether there were accomplices. Or where the loot is – it hasn’t appeared again to this day. The presiding judge quoted his lawyer as saying that the defendant could not pay back at least part of it.
The negotiation began with intensive discussions behind closed doors. However, an agreement is not possible at this point because of the open questions, the judge said afterwards in the public hearing.
Loot put in the backpack
The young man in custody is threatened with a longer prison sentence: With a view to a possible later agreement, the public prosecutor set between four and a half and five years for a conviction under juvenile criminal law and six to seven years for a conviction under general criminal law in the event of a comprehensive confession Space. According to the judge, the defense envisioned a range of two years and eight months to three years and six months.
According to the indictment, the then 19-year-old had been working in a bank branch in Feldkirchen near Munich for almost six months when he ordered 220,000 euros in cash from the Bundesbank for a fictitious customer. On the day of delivery on July 29, 2022, as part of his work, he had access to the safe, where, according to the indictment, he put the entire cash balance of 735,500 euros in his backpack.
When colleagues noticed discrepancies and confronted him, he explained, according to the prosecution, that his life depended on the money and that his grandmother was heavily in debt. He then fled via the staff exit into the underground car park and disappeared.
Around six months later, the young man turned himself in to the police. There he stated that a neighboring childhood friend had threatened to kill him or a family member if he did not steal the money. As a police clerk who was called as a witness explained, the defendant emptied the safe on his behalf and handed the money over to two accomplices he did not know.
The verdict against the young man, who had already committed several minor offenses and tried to escape from custody while visiting a doctor, is expected in mid-February.