Brazen case of fraud: German Ministry of Economic Affairs stops payment of corona funds
German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier
The responsible bodies have already started investigations, as the German Business Insider reports. Apparently, fraudsters have exploited loopholes in central German corona aid and sneaked millions with the help of false identities. Payouts have been stopped to investigate.
The affected programs – the November and December aid and the bridging aid – are aimed at companies, the self-employed and associations. The federal government has been paying discounts for weeks so that companies can get their money faster. In total, more than 7 billion euros flowed. These payments on account have now been temporarily stopped. From restaurants to hotels to retailers – all ailing companies are affected.
The fraud scheme could have worked like this: In Germany, corona aid can only be applied for by so-called “third parties” – such as tax advisors. According to information from Business Insider , strangers with false identities registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs as third parties and then applied for help for real companies. However, the money did not flow there, but instead into the accounts of the fraudsters. Apparently, the scam was not noticed by either the federal government or the states, which are supposed to check the applications regularly, until last week.
