The financial ties between AWO Wiesbaden and AWO Frankfurt
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OfMadeleine Reckman
shut down
The bogus employment relationships were paid for with money from the city of Frankfurt. This could mean that there are no convictions.
It was an ingenious system of deception that those responsible for the two district associations of Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt are said to have hatched: the complicated interdependencies between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden make it possible to transfer large sums of money in order to finance a system of bogus employment relationships . It depicts a senior investigator from the Frankfurt police before the district court in Wiesbaden.
A salary that should make it possible to study
The police officer had been summoned to investigate the case of Wiesbaden CDU politician Wolfgang Gores and his daughter. The 62-year-old father is accused of incitement to infidelity and the daughter, who was born in 1986, of aiding and abetting infidelity. The father is said to have given the daughter a job in refugee aid at AWO Wiesbaden, for which she did not have to work, but received a total of 53,000 euros net from 2017 to 2019. The money was intended to enable the studying ethnologist to study social work after an unsuccessful start in professional life. The labor court in Freiburg had already sentenced the daughter to a fine of 70,000 euros. You make an appeal.
AWO Frankfurt is said to have cheated on billing
The starting point for the investigation was the suspicion of fraud to the detriment of the city of Frankfurt, reports the investigator. The AWO Frankfurt is suspected of having given false information when billing for the care of two refugee accommodations in Frankfurt. The Gores case came into focus after an anonymous complaint in February 2020. In fact, the name appeared in an internal list, but without naming an activity. This list would also include the names of other beneficiaries of bogus employment relationships, some of them listed more than once.
Advantage hoped for in politics
The police officer explains that the interviews revealed that none of the employees could have the daughter. The Wiesbaden AWO managing director Hannelore Richter issued the employment contract without involving the HR department and the works council. According to the police officer, it seems reasonable to assume that Richter was hoping for an advantage over the CDU politician from the courtesy. Father and daughter had previously stated that the daughter received the salary without consideration. However, this was not the intention when the contract was concluded.
High six-digit amounts transferred to Wiesbaden
The alleged bogus employment relationship is one of many at the AWO Wiesbaden, reports the investigator. The machinations have been regulated in the consulting and project management contract of the two district associations. In the contract, the AWO Wiesbaden promised the Frankfurter Verband support in looking after the refugee accommodation. They invoiced AWO Frankfurt for these services. In this way, high six-digit amounts, which the city of Frankfurt had transferred to AWO Frankfurt for refugee work, reached Wiesbaden. The AWO Wiesbaden used the money to pay for the numerous bogus employment relationships, fees and wages for mini-jobs. The lucrative posts were mainly given to AWO employees from Frankfurt. The employment contracts were issued by AWO Wiesbaden.
No damage no cheating
Since the money for Gores’ daughter came from Frankfurt, lawyer Bernhard Lorenz doubts that there will be a conviction. The city of Frankfurt pays the AWO Frankfurt a budget. According to Lorenz, if billing is not based on specific services, there can be no legal basis for fraud. This could apply at least until the city of Frankfurt terminated the contract with the AWO. At the end of 2018, the city handed over the accommodation to other providers. The employment contract with the daughter was then changed, and the salary was halved. But the daughter was not expecting him until 2019, when the AWO made the headlines because of its business conduct.