An ex-manager of an Infineon subsidiary is standing before the Arnsberg regional court in North Rhine-Westphalia on charges of embezzling millions in company funds. According to the indictment, as manager of the chip manufacturer based in Warstein, he is said to have diverted 7.5 million euros through a trust account he had set up with several transactions and spent it on his own real estate transactions and his own upscale lifestyle, a court spokesman said at the start of the trial.
He is said to have embezzled further millions, including in the form of loans from his employer, through the purchase of two supplier companies and the establishment of his own holding company. In this second set of charges, a couple from Düsseldorf is also charged with aiding and abetting, who are said to have supported the ex-manager. According to the judge, there is also suspicion of money laundering against the two spouses, according to the court spokesman.
The defendant wants to respond to the allegations in the trial
When asked, the lawyer for the accused ex-manager said his client would only comment on the allegations in court later in the trial. The presumption of innocence applies to the three defendants until the legal conclusion of the proceedings.
According to the court spokesman, the accused manager revealed himself to his employer in September 2020. Ultimately, he had no other choice, a company spokesman said when asked. “Otherwise, the embezzlement would have been discovered promptly.”
The company specializes in semiconductor technology in the field of power generation and is a joint venture between Infineon and Siemens. It acts as a co-plaintiff in the process and sees itself as the injured party: “The defendant acted with great criminal energy, including by using straw people and forging documents. This was the only way the events could remain undetected for so long,” said the spokesman Inquiry. In the complex white-collar criminal proceedings, 14 further trial dates are planned until mid-February.
