Rip off wherever possible. Far more Berliners than expected held out their hands for the Corona aid payments, even though they were not entitled to do so. Searches were carried out in the city on Tuesday morning, and the LKA department responsible for Islamism intervened.

Since the early morning, the police have been searching dozens of properties nationwide on suspicion of subsidy fraud. The focus of the operations is Berlin, said a police spokesman on Tuesday morning. The department responsible for Islamism at the State Criminal Police Office was involved in the investigation, it said.

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According to the reports, it is about fraud in connection with the Corona aid. Nothing was initially known about the exact background. According to the police spokesman, 57 objects are being searched nationwide. There are also raids in Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony.

Tens of thousands of investigations into Corona aid fraud in Berlin

In the summer, more than 10,000 investigations into suspected fraud in Corona aid payments had already been initiated in Berlin. This emerges from the response of the Senate to a written request from the CDU MP Alexander Herrmann, which was available to the German Press Agency. According to the judicial administration, there were 2,399 procedures in 2020, and the number rose to 5,591 the following year.

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At that time, the judiciary already estimated the potential damage at around 146 million euros.

The then Berlin Senator for the Interior Andreas Geisel (SPD), on the other hand, emphasized that the Senate had deliberately decided in 2020 for quick and unbureaucratic help – despite the known risk of abuse and fraud. You have to put the amount of fraud in relation to two billion euros in support.

Corona aid scam by Arab clans

Solo self-employed, freelancers and micro-entrepreneurs with a maximum of five employees were able to receive 5,000 euros in emergency aid from the state of Berlin during the Corona lockdown, as well as up to 9,000 euros from the federal government. For companies with up to ten started, there was up to 15,000 euros from federal funds. However, the federal funds could only be requested for ongoing operating costs such as rent, loans for business premises, leasing rates and the like. A lot of fraud took place here, which is now being prosecuted at great expense.

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Already in April 2020 he reported Mirror about fraud with Corona aid in the environment of Arab clans in Berlin.

Investigators had compared the residential and business addresses of several large Arab families with the data from the investment bank Berlin (IBB), where the corona aid is applied for, and received many hits. “More than 250 applications for financial aid match the few clan addresses,” says Der Spiegel.